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The word “glory” in Scripture is rich. The Hebrew is often kavod and the Greek doxa. In its most basic sense, glory speaks of the significance, splendor, and majesty of God—the honor, praise, and worship due to him, and the manifestation of his presence.

God’s glory declared in creation

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

God’s glory in the tabernacle and temple

When the tabernacle was finished, “the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34–35). At the dedication of the temple the priests could not stand to minister, for the glory of the LORD filled the house (1 Kings 8:11).

God’s glory in Jesus Christ

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

God’s glory in salvation

God’s purpose in the gospel is “to the praise of his glory” for those who hope in Christ, who hear the word of truth, believe, and are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit—the guarantee of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:12–14).

God’s glory in his church

“To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:21).

The glory of God in our daily lives

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

When Israel witnessed God’s glory

At Sinai the people saw the thunderings, lightnings, trumpet sound, and smoking mountain, and they stood far off (Exodus 20:18). Hebrews reminds Christians that we have not come to that terrifying mountain, but the warning still stands: God is to be approached with reverence (Hebrews 12:18–21).

Theophany — God made known

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Moses asked to see God’s glory. The LORD made his goodness pass by, but said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live,” and he sheltered Moses in the cleft of the rock (Exodus 33:17–23).

The result of Moses seeing God’s glory

When Moses came down from Sinai, the skin of his face shone, and Aaron and Israel were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:29–30).

God’s glory and his creation

The LORD asked Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”—when the morning stars sang together (Job 38:4–7). Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain him; how much less a house built by hands (1 Kings 8:27). Heaven is his throne and earth his footstool (Isaiah 66:1). By his word the heavens were made (Psalm 33:6). From everlasting to everlasting he is God (Psalm 90:2). He created the heavens, spread out the earth, and gives breath to the people on it (Isaiah 42:5).

God’s glory and his omnipresence

There is nowhere to flee from his Spirit or presence—heaven, Sheol, the wings of the morning, or the uttermost parts of the sea. Even there his hand leads and his right hand holds (Psalm 139:7–10).

God’s glory and his fierceness

He is the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love (Nehemiah 1:5). “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Behold then the kindness and the severity of God (Romans 11:22).

God’s glory in his goodness and grace

He knows every word on our tongue; such knowledge is too wonderful for us (Psalm 139:4–6). He is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us—“to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20–21).

The book names seventeen leaders. Othniel (“God is force”), of Judah, brought forty years of peace (Judges 3:9–11). Ehud the left-handed Benjamite brought eighty (3:12–30). Shamgar struck down Philistines with an oxgoad (3:31). Deborah the prophetess judged forty years; Barak would not go without her (chs. 4–5). Gideon, also called Jerubbaal, judged forty years (chs. 6–8). Abimelech, Gideon’s son by a concubine, seized three years and died as a warning (ch. 9). Tola judged twenty-three years; Jair twenty-two (10:1–5). About that time Boaz married Ruth.

Eli the priest is listed with the judges though his story is in 1 Samuel; he led forty years and died at ninety-eight. Jephthah the Gileadite judged six years (10:6–12:7). Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon fill the years before Samson (12:8–15). Samson of Dan judged twenty years and fell in Gaza (chs. 13–16). Samuel, heard of God, is the last judge and the first of the long line of prophets; he anointed Saul and David. His sons Joel and Abijah were so wicked that Israel asked for a king.

The outline of the book is three movements.

Part one: deterioration (1:1–3:4). Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan all fail to finish the conquest. An angel announces judgment (2:1–5). A godly generation dies (2:6–10). The cycle is described (2:11–19). The nations are left as a test (2:20–3:4).

Part two: deliverance in the campaigns (3:5–16:31). South: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar. North: Deborah and Barak. Center: Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair. East: Jephthah. North again: Ibzan, Elon, Abdon. West: Samson—from miraculous birth to a sinful marriage to the house of Dagon.

Part three: depravity (17:1–21:25). Personal idolatry becomes tribal idolatry (chs. 17–18). Personal immorality becomes tribal immorality (ch. 19). Then the tribes go to war (chs. 20–21). The last word of the book is the reason the notes exist: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

That is the map Oxley put in front of the class.

Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? 1 Corinthians 15:29

Introduction. There are some who believe that in Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, he was advocating the practice of baptism by proxy, (i.e. a substitution) for those who were dead. If so, then salvation appears to be extended to those who had died and rejected or never knew the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is this what the New Testament teaches? Did Jesus ever imply that a “second chance” would be offered to those who no longer were alive...that someone could offer themselves to be baptized on their behalf of the deceased/the lost …so that salvation would deliver them from eternal doom if they didn’t know Jesus Christ and or his teachings?

Not only is unity in the church to be maintained, but unity in God’s message must also be maintained. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he states, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4-6.

Can we reconcile 1 Corinthians 15:29 with Ephesians 4:5? Is there a baptism for someone who has died and another baptism for those who are yet alive? These two baptisms…are they one and the same? Whatever the answer may be, they can NOT contradict one another. God is NOT the author of confusion. “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (unity), as in all churches of the saints.” 1 Corinthians 14:33. Only God’s Word can settle this.

God the Father gave the command through his Son Jesus Christ concerning baptism. Jesus himself obeyed this command as the perfect, sinless Son of God. “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.” Matthew 3:13-15

Peter tells the Jewish crowd on the day of Pentecost how to obtain salvation. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38 The Ethiopian Eunuch tells Philip what he needs to do…. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? ” Acts 8:35-36

“And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Acts 22:16 Peter tells us what baptism does for the believer…. “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 3:20-21 Ananias tells Saul/Paul what he needs to do…

While we are alive, what is our duty to God? “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiates 12:13 “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10

Nowhere in God’s Word is the command to “…go out and be baptized for the ones who are dead and not saved.” We are responsible for our own souls. “And with many other words did he (Peter) testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” Acts 2:40 “ ….. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. ” Philippians 2:12 “ ….. every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12 “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. ” Ezekiel 18:20

So, what exactly is the meaning….what is the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:29? Why is this obscure verse mentioned only ONCE IN PASSING in the entire New Testament that depicts our obligation to be baptized for someone else? In the first 200 years of the church, history is completely silent as to this baptism by proxy. Why does Paul even bring this topic up….what was going on in the church? If baptism for the dead was practiced in the first century church….who gave the command? Jesus NEVER mentioned this peculiar ritual….neither did the other seven writers of the New Testament.

1 Corinthians chapter 15 … It appears that there were some within the church who questioned the physical resurrection of the body. Some believed that there was NO physical resurrection….and yet it appears they might have practiced this unusual ceremony. The language concerning this baptism for the dead is past tense….it was either ending or no longer performed. Paul states, “….what shall they do which are baptized (past tense) for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead…” Paul does NOT say, “Why do you continue baptizing yourselves for those who died?” He goes on to state that since Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, someday we too, will be raised from the dead.

Corinth was a mixed society of Roman and Greek cultures. These two cultures did not believe in a physical resurrection. Both their idolatrous mythologies believed there was an afterlife, but only for the spirit. Approximately two months after Paul left Corinth, this teaching, that there is no resurrection for those who died had crept into the church.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the significance of baptism in relation to salvation if there is no resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15

The rich man and Lazarus Luke 16:19-31 We all know this story, a man who had everything and a man who had nothing. Both men were responsible for how they lived and interacted with others. One lived a prosperous life and the other suffered as a leper. When both men died, each was taken to their abode waiting for final judgement. The rich man was in spiritual torment while Lazarus was comforted. The rich man looked up and saw Abraham. He pleaded with him asking for relief from his misery. Abraham said, “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.”

Abraham reminded the rich man that when he was alive, he had it good and when Lazarus was alive, he was in torment. The rich man then asked Abraham to send someone to his family and warn them of the consequences of a sinful life. Abraham said, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” The rich man responded, “No, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent!” And Abraham said, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16:22-31

The rich man was responsible for his own actions. No one could rescue him for salvation after he died….his time came to an end. His sin followed him to his destiny. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. ” Hebrews 9:27. According to God’s Word, no one can erase someone else’s past from God’s perfect judgement. The same holds true for those who believe in purgatory….

Purgatory: Often described as a “cleansing fire” that purifies the soul. Souls in purgatory are assured of eventual salvation and cannot pray for themselves; instead, the living can assist them through prayers, almsgiving, indulgences, and the Eucharistic sacrifice. The purification process is temporary and lasts only as long as necessary for the soul to be fully sanctified.

If baptism by proxy is a divine command, can we be baptized for someone who’s still alive? If a person states he will always reject Jesus Christ, can someone volunteer to be baptized for him? Would it not be the same principle? One could actually say to the sinner, “Even though you hate God and reject him, you’ll still be saved...because I was baptized for you!”

Even the religious group who believe they have another testament, a more complete and perfect testament, even their religious book states that in this life only, can a sinner be afforded salvation. Their own book is completely silent as to the practice of baptizing for the dead. Yet, their book states just the opposite…

“For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors….therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end….if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed….For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold….the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked." Alma 34: 32-35

“...And now, there was no means to reclaim men from this fallen state, which man had brought upon himself because of his own disobedience; Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state, yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice. Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God.” Alma 42:10-13

If you were to read 100 commentaries on the explanation of 1 Corinthians 15:29, you’ll probably get 100 different explanations on this obscure passage that Paul stated in passing. Only once were the words ‘what shall they do which are baptized for the dead’ ever stated. If this ritual is one of the pillars of certain religious groups, isn’t it strange that Jesus never uttered those words….much less commanded it? The resurrection of the saints is the main theme of 1 Corinthians 15. If there is no resurrection….why be baptized? Paul explains the purpose of baptism….our once dead body in sin is raised a new creature. Our Lord’s body was resurrected in a glorified human body….and someday ours will be, too.

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” Romans 6:3-8

Paul’s last words, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8 Abraham told the rich man that a great gulf separated those who were saved and those who were lost. Neither of the two could pass over the gulf. If that be true, even if someone were to be baptized for the rich man….the rich man still could not pass through the gulf and be with Lazarus. According to Paul, there is only one baptism…. for those who are alive and respond to God’s invitation. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Ephesians 4:5

The unity of the scriptures are to be respected…no matter the topic. Preaching anything contrary to what God has written is to be cursed by God. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8

People have inhabited the area known as Corinth for over 6,000 years. In time, Corinth grew to become the largest city in Greece. The official recognition of Corinth as a city was around 900 BC. Shortly before his death in March of 44 AD, Julius Caesar ordered the colonization of Corinth which had been destroyed by Roman forces in 146 BC. The city was built along a narrow neck of land called an isthmus that connected the Peloponnesus peninsula with the mainland. The narrowest point of the isthmus is approx. 5 miles wide.

Later through the years, Corinth became a major tourist attraction and visitors regarded their stay like a “participation in a joyous, continual celebration.” The city stood 200 feet above sea level. Soil, agriculture-wise, was not the best but was perfect for vineyards. Grapes, wine, raisins and related products were the main sources of the harvested supply. Pottery and metal such as copper and brass were forged in making utensils which also contributed to the economy of Corinth.

Corinth and the Isthmus canal project…. During these ancient times, ships would embark on the West side of the isthmus or the East side. From there, ships were placed on a huge set of rollers that transported them to the opposite end of this strip of land. The reason for this unique undertaking, sailing around the southern part of the Peloponnesus was extremely hazardous. The ancient proverb, “Round Cape Malea and forget about home.” It was more cost effective to carry or roll the ships across land than to chance losing life, ship, and cargo.

Nero Caesar understood that if a canal were to be excavated through the length of the five mile wide isthmus, this complex undertaking would eventually benefit the Greek and Roman economy tremendously. Nero himself, with a golden spade, ceremoniously started the canal project by digging the first shovel full. The canal project continued for 75 days by the utilization of the Roman army and 6,000 Jewish prisoners sent by Vespasian around 69 AD. An uprising in Rome halted the excavation of the canal and wasn’t completed until 1893 by the Greek government.

Corinth and her community buildings and structures…. Many of the city’s public buildings and various structures were built by its wealthy citizens as a service of goodwill to the Corinthian community. Rather than taxation of the populace, it was considered an honor and privilege for a well to do patron, to personally finance a project that benefited the city. The status of the financier- philanthropist, would give recognition as to his loyalty and generosity to the community.

In Romans 16:23, a Corinthian named Erastus, was the Chamberlain of the city. His duties as Chamberlain or Treasurer, likely included the upkeep of civic buildings and city streets and the collection of public revenue, along with overseeing the maintenance of Roman infrastructure, such as aqueducts and sewers. In some cases, he may have acted as a lawyer of sorts in public disputes. Erastus personally financed the construction of one of the main streets in Corinth. Today, you can still see the engraved markings on the street he sponsored. It reads, “Erastus in return for his aedileship (management position), paved it at his own expense”.

Roman Corinth’s Religion and her commerce…. Roman Corinth was one of the most important centers of early Christianity. Its importance is augmented by the fact that it is the best-known community, thanks to Luke’s book of Acts and Paul’s letters. Even before the Roman and Greek Empires came into power, religion in almost all civilizations was extremely important to the wellbeing of city and state in the worship of their gods. When Roman came to power, loyalty slowly shifted throughout the empire to new imperial cults such as emperor worship. Local and state gods and deities still played a significant role. But in time, their status slowly decreased and new shrines and temples were now being built next to the older shrines and temples.

The Acro Corinth…the Rock of Corinth, has an elevation of 2,000 feet. This mountain citadel became a strategic lookout providing adequate warning against her enemies. Atop this natural formation sat the temple of Venus, or Aphrodite. Today, even from ground level, you can still see the ruins of the once famous temple. According to Greek historians, the temple of Aphrodite employed at one time, over 1,000 priestesses who managed the worship and served as prostitutes which was a part of the religious ceremonies. During the reign of Augustus Caesar, Corinth was a thriving metropolis, and the Temple of Aphrodite provided immense wealth for Corinth and Rome.

Two other temples of significance in Corinth were the temples of Apollo and Asclepius, the god of healing and medicine. Other shrines and dedications to other Greek and Roman gods were numerous through out the city. Corinth was only second to Athens in temples and objects of devotion. The population of Corinth during the reign of the early Caesars, was approx. 600,000, of which 400,000 were slaves. The majority of its citizens consisted of Romans and Italians. Second in populous was the Greek community. The third largest group were Jews and foreigners. The Romans who lived here considered themselves, “more Roman than Rome” and the Greek populace considered themselves “more Greek than Athens”.

Corinth became the capital of the Achaean province and was ruled by a Roman proconsul or governor during the time of the Caesars. The office of governor was usually a two-year term appointed by Caesar or the Roman senate. During Paul’s year and a half stay in Corinth, Lucius Junius Gallio was the governor of Achaea around 51 AD. Paul was brought before Gallio concerning religious matters. The leaders of the Jewish synagogue had accused Paul of sedition concerning Mosaic Law and Jewish customs.

Along with the various arts, philosophy was a prized discipline in Corinth. The pupils of these philosophical universities were fiercely dedicated to their chosen brand of philosophy and to their teachers- often times to the point of violence. Sporting events such as the Isthmus Athletic Games were held every 2 years. Athens and her Olympic Games were held every 4 years. These two events were extremely important to the Corinthian people and to her economy. Travelers and athletes from all over the world participated in these events.

But Corinth also had a negative characteristic to the well-being of her character. The indulgence of these people had no limits. These indulgences included drunkenness, sexual immorality, extreme division between the classes, and lawsuits were extensively common. To act the Corinthian, was a phrase depicting the characteristic of the city in general…. someone who was drunk. In Greek plays, a Corinthian always was portrayed as one who slurred his words and could barely walk. Another one of her characteristics was argumentation and questioning all and everything….again, to the point of physical violence. Moderation was not a word in the Corinthian vocabulary.

The Church at Corinth…. The above is a brief description of Corinth and her history. Now, we will look at the church of Corinth during the time of Paul’s ministry. Almost every aspect of the city and her undesirable sensibilities is reflected in the general makeup of the church. The negative sensibilities displayed in this church….stemmed from the detrimental behavior of the Corinthian community in general. To make matters worse, after Paul left Corinth, Rome’s attitude toward the Jews and their religion in general, started to take a severe turn for the worst. Rome’s negative perception of the Jews mirrored the same attitude towards the Christians, thinking the two were one and the same. The question is….why the drastic change in Rome’s perception?

When Paul arrives in Corinth, he meets Aquila and Priscilla. These two Jewish believers had just been expelled from Rome by Claudius Caesar. In A.D. 49, Claudius banished all Jews from Rome because of continued “rioting over Chrestus,” likely a Latinized christos, or messiah in Hebrew. The most likely explanation is that Jews who had been under that Apostolic teaching in Jerusalem had returned to Rome and brought the message of Jesus as Messiah to the synagogues of Rome. In A.D. 41 Claudius put restrictions on Jews meeting together. The same year a delegation (which included the well-known Jewish philosopher Philo) petitioned the Emperor Caligula on behalf of the Jews in Alexandria.

The Jews in Alexandria had continually complained about Rome not caring about their unique and specific needs. Caesar in his reply to the Jews in Egypt, believed he had bent over backwards in his dealings with them. He stated that their complaints and ungratefulness were getting tiresome. “If you keep provoking me, I will revoke all of your privileges and amenities!”

The Jewish expulsion in Rome at that time, created a bitter hatred for the Jews throughout the Empire …. which in turn, this hatred would include Christians. Because of this Jewish negative mindset, Caesar had stated that the Jews were haters of mankind. Before this negative situation intensified, Roman’s outlook towards the Jews was tolerable at best. Now, Rome felt it was pushed to the point of complete disfavor towards them. Below are some of the allowances Rome had already allowed the Jews…………

The Jews were permitted to gather/meet once a week for religious purposes. Other groups, Roman and otherwise, were not authorized this privilege. Those in the various guilds and trades were only permitted to meet once a month. Otherwise, gatherings more than once a month could be considered undesirable for the stability of Rome. This was to avoid seditious tendencies….i.e., plotting against Rome. Jewish males were exempt from serving in the Roman army. For religious reasons, the Jews would refuse to fight on Sabbath….plus, they would refuse pork or various foods considered “unclean”.

Through out the Empire, if possible, Rome provided government sponsored butcher shops….kosher butcher shops with a rabbi overseeing the process. After Paul left Corinth, Rome no longer provided this unique amenity. Hence, the question of eating meat offered to idols was never a topic when Paul resided there. Jews were exempt from emperor worship or participating in various festivals dedicated to Roman gods. In exchange for not taking part in these practices, the Jewish priests offered sacrifices in Jerusalem on behalf of the Caesars and the Roman Empire.

Famine occurred three times during the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. Because of the Jews, if it were possible, Roman did not distribute grain on the Sabbath during these famines. If a Jewish synagogue was damaged or destroyed, whether it be natural disaster or result of war, Rome would rebuild it without expense to the people. In general, the Jewish community was allowed many privileges. But after the expulsion of the Jewish people in Rome, the above list, the atmosphere towards the Jews, had deteriorated drastically.

Laws concerning sexual activity were very strict. Activities of this kind to Roman sensibilities, showed a lack of family stability which would lead to the breakdown of Roman values in general. Adultery and incest were at the top of the list when it came to immoral and unacceptable behavior. If any of these laws were broken, the obligation of the person harmed was given 60 days to bring charges before the court. After 60 days, if the injured person did not come forward, anyone else was given the authority to inform the court system. And if no one came forward and the courts became aware, all involved could be fined, jailed, and or exiled with loss of citizenship and personal property would be seized.

Philosophical schools, were known to be factious and divisive towards other schools of philosophy. Unfortunately, this harmful behavior crept into the Corinthian church. I’m a student of Paul! I’m a student of Peter! I’m a student of Apollos! I’m a student Jesus Christ! This divisive attitude became apparent not only between the various factions within the congregation, but also between the wealthy and the poor. The “haves” appeared not to show any sympathy towards the “have nots”. The Lord’s Supper was abused….something Paul never preached.

Drunkenness apparently was part of the abuse of the Lord’s Table. Women were taking a vocal part in the service- or in the very least, interrupting the worship service. Debate as to which spiritual gift was the most desirable. A man having relations with his father’s wife. Brother is now taking brother to court. The Corinthian attitude was, there is no problem so menial or trivial that the court system can’t resolve. The various problems that plagued the church, stemmed from the sensibilities of the Corinthian environment. The negative situations that were evident in the society of Corinth….was now displayed in the church. Again, the question begs to be asked……why was this happening?

Various theories among scholars and commentaries, the old adage, “When the cat’s away….” Another plausible possibility which many agree, when Paul left Corinth, new converts unacquainted with Paul’s teachings, their influence may have swayed the weaker members to question what previously been taught. As to women speaking during the worship service, this may have been women who had an authoritative position in the Corinthian governing system. Plus, some of the priestess of the temple of Aphrodite, who did have an authoritative role, may now be members of the church, which would explain their unscriptural participation in the worship service.

What does it mean to “count the cost”? How do you do that? First, it starts with a plan. A plan that takes into consideration what it will take to complete the plan. What will it cost? How long will it take to complete the plan? Do you foresee obstacles that may interfere with the plan? Will the end outweigh the sacrifices?

Luke 14:27-31, And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

As servants of God when dealing with spiritual matters, not only are we to count the cost as to our obligations, we must also pray to God for wisdom so we can wisely complete our plans for his service. 1 Corinthians 3:10, According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder … Paul never hesitated asking God for help.

Examples of counting the cost Matthew 19:16, And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Our Lord’s answer to him….. Matthew 19:21, Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. The rich young man’s response….. Matthew 19:22, But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. The cost of giving up his worldly goods was too great for him….his possessions were more valuable than eternal life. After his life came to an end, do you think he had any regrets? Matthew 18:26, For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

The Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16:22-25, And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. The rich man didn’t count the cost in loving his neighbor…. because of his selfishness and lack of love, he paid the price.

Luke 16:21, And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. The rich farmer had left his God out of the equation. His pride didn’t include the one who allowed him to prosper. Like the rich man in Luke’s parable, the rich farmer paid the price for his arrogance. The Boastful Farmer

Matthew 10:37-39, He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Who would not willingly sacrifice their life for their family? That is a physical familial-family love we have for one another. Jesus said….. John 15:13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. But our love for God is a special kind of love that belongs only to him, the giver of life. Stephen and Paul both counted the cost of their discipleship. Both gave their lives for the cause of Jesus Christ. Our obligations and priorities are to God.

Luke 21:1-4, And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had. To all who were there, there was no way of anyone knowing how much the widow gave….but God the Son knew. Matthew 6:2, Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. The Widow Counted The Cost as to Her Responsibility To God

Cornelius did what he could for those around him. His reputation as a good man was seen by all. Acts 10:1-4, “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.” Cornelius believed his responsibility was to give what he could. His generosity appears to have been extended to both Jew and Gentile alike. He counted the cost.

Because of the economic situation facing the Macedonian churches, Paul hesitated in asking for financial aid for the Judean churches because of the famine they were experiencing. 1 Corinthians 8:1-5, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Like the widow who gave the two mites, the Macedonian churches counted the cost.

Acts 5:1-6, But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. The deceitfulness of Ananias and Sapphira came with a price. Rather than handling the situation in a truthful way, they schemed as to robbing God. Ananias and Sapphira tried to deceive Peter and the Jerusalem church.

Someday, we’ll stand before God and give an account. Matthew 25:31-40, When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

The righteous count the cost … and sometimes the cost is very little. Mark 9:41, For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Galatians 6:10, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

When it comes to counting the cost of anything, it doesn’t always mean in a monetary way. Our actions, our motives, tell us and all who we are. What are we willing to give up for the cause of Jesus Christ? Jesus left his heavenly home for us. He willingly died for us. Matthew 16:26, For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Proverbs 23:23, Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” Matthew 7:24-25, Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. Matthew 27:65, Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.” 2 Peter 1:10, Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.

As servants of God, we are to count the cost. As servants of God, we are to be wise master builders. And like Peter and Pilate said, “Make it sure.”

Job 1:6, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.”

Now, Let’s look at Job 2:1. “Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.” Did you notice the subtle difference?

Satan and his plan to defeat Job. In Job 1:6, Satan was not called to present himself to God, he came to see what was going on between God and his people, the sons of God. In Job 2:1, Satan went out of his way to present himself … to confront God with some unfinished business with Job. Satan is demanding God to allow him to do further harm to Job. Satan HATED God and HATED Job. Satan wants to prove a point. Satan, the uninvited guest is an intruder.

In contrast, let’s look at our Lord and Savior’s approach to mankind. Our Lord ASKS to be invited in. Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

When those who respond to our Lord and opens that door … Satan barges in. He, like in Job’s time, wants to see what’s going on. Our Lord is an invited guest … Satan is a trespasser, an intruder. John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Revelation 20:3, “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Satan has been a deceiver, the father of lies, and a murderer from the beginning. God has given us a way to defend ourselves from Satan. Ephesians 6:11-12, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword …” John 12:23-32. Jesus came to do the will of His Father, to be glorified by His Father. Jesus will defeat the Prince of this world and cast him out.

Satan has absolutely no use for Jesus Christ, the Father, and you. John 14:30, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” 2 Corinthians 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Ephesians 2:2, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”

Satan had power over nature … Job 1:19, “And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”

Satan had the power to use disease and sickness … Job 2:7, “So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.”

Does Satan still have this power or, did God GIVE Satan this power to harm Job specifically? Job 1:12, “And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So, Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.” Job 2:6-7, “And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.”

Satan has always had power and influence … and he still does. Matthew 4:8-9, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” God created the world … and Satan rules and controls through humanity.

My sermon on “Satan in the Synagogue” a few months ago, I showed where the demons ALWAYS acknowledged who Jesus was … the Son of God. Legion RAN to meet our Lord and acknowledged who Jesus was. The only ones who did not acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God were the unbelieving Jewish leaders and Satan. Satan had too much to loose … his power if he admitted who Jesus was. Anywhere God’s people worship, anywhere God’s people are … Satan will always be there … personally or by his influence.

We are not alone … 1 John 4:4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Human emotions are powerful, and sometimes they deceive us … “God, why am I all Alone?” “God, can’t you hear me – aren’t you listening?” Even Jesus showed emotions of loneliness and being forsaken. Our Lord too, was human. Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

But our Lord and Savior was NOT alone and forsaken … Matthew 26:53, “ Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” John 16:32, “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.”

God the Father will always be with us through the good times and the bad … just like his Son, Jesus Christ. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Jesus told his disciples that he will ALWAYS be with them, no matter what … Matthew 28:20, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” If God truly did turn his back and had forsaken his Son … his PERFECT, obedient only Son who PERFECTLY kept the will of his Father, what makes you think God will not do the same to us who are not perfect?

Satan is a liar, a deceiver and a murderer. He hates you. He wants you to lose your soul. He will do whatever it takes … AND whatever we allow his to do so he can accomplish his evil work. 2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” If every good and perfect comes from God the Father, where does all the evil and harmful gifts come from? My opinion --- SATAN, the roaring lion.

The word church, ekklesia, has no religious significance in itself….it is simply a word in describing a gathering of people. If we say, “the Lord’s church”, we now have a gathering (church) of people, God’s people. Acts 20:28, Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

The church is subject to Christ, and Christ is the head of his church. Ephesians 5:23-24, For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Colossians 1:18, And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. Firstborn: Gk. prototokos - (literally or figuratively) first in rank, first in position. Case in point….Jacob instead of Esau- Ephraim instead of Manasseh

God gives his people a new name Isaiah 62:2, And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Acts 11:26, And when he (Barnabus) had found him (Paul), he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Approx. 25 years later, the name Christian was understood to mean the followers of Jesus Christ. Acts 26:28, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Our Worship to God 2 Timothy 4:2, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Hebrews 13:15, By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Acts 20:7, And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. 1 Corinthians 6:2, Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Pray without ceasing.

Our spiritual obligation as God’s church 1 Peter 3:18, But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. Ephesians 4:12, For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Acts 20:32, And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

As members of the Lord’s church, we not only have a spiritual obligation to one another, we are also commanded to help with the daily physical needs of our members if needed. As the Lord’s church, we too must support those who we consider worthy of support…financially and otherwise. Our obligation is to do the work of Jesus Christ. As individual servants, we can provide for the needs of our saints/members and the church. We are commanded to do good to ALL men/people if we have the means and ability. Jesus demonstrated his love not to his Jewish brethren only, but to the Samaritans and the Gentiles.

The Grecian widows in Jerusalem Acts 6:1, And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 1 Timothy 5:15, If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. The question is asked, why were the Grecian widows neglected? Why didn’t the apostles and elders step in?

The caring of the widows was just one example concerning the obligations of the Lord’s church. The widow Lydia from Philippi and Chloe from Corinth shows us the importance of the older women in the congregation. It is believed that Chloe was a prominent helper of the apostle Paul who had also delivered his epistle of Romans to the church in Rome. These older ladies, along with others, were influential and aided in the stability of God’s holy work. Like Eunice, the grandmother of Timothy, she shows us the inspired example of the older women contributing for the cause of Jesus Christ.

Some consider these two verses the work/obligation of its individual members. James 1:27, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Galatians 6:10, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. These two verses seem to suggest an individual’s responsibility to those outside of the church. By demonstrating who we are, those outside the kingdom, hopefully can see our Christ-like attitude. The spiritual obligation of the church is to preach the gospel to the world and to aid our needy saints.

Paul tells the Corinthians what the churches in Macedonia were doing. Paul instructed the churches he helped to establish, to take a collection to the saints in Judea because of a drought/famine that had just occurred. Paul also received financial support from the saints in Macedonia.

2 Corinthians 8:1-5, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. 2 Corinthians 12:13-14, For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. 1 Timothy 5:18, For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, the labourer is worthy of his reward.

As the Lord’s church, we too must support those who we consider worthy of support…financially and otherwise. Our obligation is to the work of Jesus Christ. As individual servants, we can provide for the needs of our saints/members and the church. We are commanded to do good to ALL men/people if we have the means and ability. Jesus demonstrated his love not to Jews only….but to the Samaritans and the Gentiles.

As the Lord’s church, we encourage one another to worship God. Hebrews 10:24-26, And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.

The Jerusalem church come together daily.

As a church, we meet on Sunday morning for Bible study and worship. On Wednesday evening we meet again for Bible study. This is for our edification. We even provide Bible study on Sunday morning for our children. Did you know that Jesus went to Sunday school? It was called Sabbath School. The temple provided the synagogues with the financial means for the Sabbath schools.

As the Lord’s church, we follow the pattern our Lord has given us. We are to be steadfast as to his Word. Being an autonomous/self-sufficient entity, we answer to God. Each congregation has specific needs. Each congregation has specific goals. But all the congregations together, we are the kingdom of God….his church.

Good morning. This month we are preaching on change. We have already lived through a good deal of it as a congregation. Some brethren are walking through large changes in their own houses. We have even talked about the possibility of a preacher and his family coming to work with us.

Oxley put it plainly: “I hate change.” That is honest. It is also the wrong place to start. Change is not the important thing. Change is what happens on the way to the important thing. God does not want us staring at the road. He wants us doing what is right, and then living with whatever follows.

Moses understood that—at first. Israel never quite did.

In Exodus 2 Moses tried to deliver his people by his own hand. That would have been a massive change. Whether he thought it through or simply could not stand the oppression any longer, he acted. It did not work. He ran to Midian. Elijah later did something similar: a great stand, then a collapse, then a flight. Both of those men later stood with Jesus on the mountain. The lesson is not “seek change.” Seek to do the right thing, and let change come as the byproduct.

Forty years later God found Moses comfortable in Midian. Egypt was a wife and children ago. “What shall I say? What if they will not believe me? I am not eloquent. Send someone else.” He was not afraid of failing. He was afraid of succeeding. Churches can get that way. We do not need change for the sake of shaking things up, and we must never change away from the authority of Scripture. But what if we are not where we ought to be? Are you doing all the things? Or do you like Midian?

In Exodus 4 Moses finally goes, and he is so settled that he does not even know whether his people are still alive. On the way the Lord nearly puts him to death because he had grown so inactive he had neglected the covenant. Inaction has consequences. Action has consequences too. We must do the right thing anyway.

Then God forced Israel out. They had been in Egypt four hundred thirty years. They were Egyptians in their habits, and they went kicking and screaming. God will either find us willing, or in His love He will force the issue. Trials move us toward sanctification (James 1). Why wait to be pushed?

Once they were out, they grumbled. They wanted Egypt back. Change pushes us out of the window of what we can tolerate. The only way to feel secure in the unknown is to believe God is with us in it.

So Israel teaches this: the righteously ambitious do not make change the subject. They refuse to settle for today simply because today is known. I once watched a sister, Helen Goodson, comfort her husband Tim as he died from a treatment that destroyed his lungs. She was ready for what came next. Nothing shook her. If we are not yet who we ought to be—and we are not—then we will have to face change. We might as well get used to the wilderness. The other choice is to get comfortable where we are.

That is the congregational lesson. The individual lesson is the same path. People come into a counseling room because they can see “here” and they can see “there,” and they cannot walk the ground in between. Christians are often strongest at naming sin and naming the goal: the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; be perfect as your Father is perfect; the fruit of the Spirit. Our go-to is “Stop it.” Sometimes that is all a man needs. Often it is not.

God helps us on that middle path. He gives wisdom (Proverbs 1:2–5). We can name our sin quickly and understand the gospel in a day. Getting from here to there takes the rest of the Book. Wisdom shows us the real problem, not the one we prefer. It also teaches us what to expect from the world so we do not despair when the world is the world (John 2).

He addresses our fear. No one changed more than Paul. What had been gain he counted loss for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:7–14). The more you know God, the easier it is to put down the crutches—nicotine, drink, pornography, the screen—and trust that He will be there.

He changes the heart. “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26–27; 11:19–20; Jeremiah 31:33; Deuteronomy 30:6). Head knowledge is not the same as heart knowledge. The heart is deceitful. God replaces it.

He increases our capacity. We can only tolerate so much for so long. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). He called Gideon a mighty warrior while Gideon was still hiding in a winepress.

He increases our will. “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). Psalm 119 is full of a man who had learned to love the Word until it became his counselor, his comfort, and his light.

You already know you are a sinner. You already know where you are supposed to stand. How will you get there? You can tell yourself to suck it up. Or you can ask God for the tools He actually offers: wisdom, a quieted fear, a new heart, a larger capacity, and a stronger will. If you had all of that, could you change? Then open the Book and reach for Him.

We have a good God who offers salvation to sinners. If you are ready to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, come.

Good morning. Please turn to John 5.

John records long sermons of Jesus that are easy to lose. Chapter 5 is one of them. The setting is Jerusalem, after a miracle at the pool of Bethesda. A work that should have produced faith produced hatred instead. John says he wrote so that we would believe (John 20:30–31). The faith Jesus wants is more than admiring a miracle. It is a connection to the Father that will not fit the world we live in.

There was a pool where an angel stirred the water, and the first one in was healed. The man Jesus chose could not get in. It was a cruel place to lie. Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, told him to take up his bed and walk, and then left (John 5:6–17). He healed one man. He did it on the Sabbath on purpose. He did not stay for the finale. Later He found the man in the temple. Then He faced the people who were angry about it.

If I had to name the work of that day in one word, I would say He provoked. “I need to wake these people up. I need to show them the difference between My ways and theirs, even if it makes them mad.”

What did they need to learn? That healing on the Sabbath does not cancel a great miracle. They thought the good was trumped by a man carrying his bed. Verse 16 says they persecuted Him for it. He could have said, “Leave the bed.” He did not.

They also needed to stop seeking glory from men (John 5:41–44). That kind of glory keeps a man from believing. I see a group trying to keep the peace of their society. You cannot have people carrying beds on the Sabbath. You cannot have unconventional teachers. It is easy for a leader to become a peacemaker when the moment calls for a prophet. Sometimes “keeping everyone happy” is just seeking glory from men.

They did not believe in Jesus. The miracle should have been enough. John’s testimony had worked for a while (v. 32), but when they met Jesus He was a turn-off. The Scriptures pointed to Him (v. 39) and they could not hear it. Nobody believes in Jesus who does not like Jesus—especially if they think He will mess up the culture they are trying to build.

What was He trying to get them to see? That it is more important to connect to the Father than to make people happy. “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19–20). The Father shows the Son His work. The Son watches and joins it. Dads do that. They put a boy’s hands on the wheel. The Jews were managing a society so the people would be proud of them. Jesus was connecting to His Father. That causes grumbling. It runs counter to what folks think is proper. It leaves a man standing alone.

In what way do you need to become more like the Jesus of John 5? Less glory from men? More willingness to provoke God’s people toward love and good works? A tighter connection to the Father’s work? It is time we made some changes to our faith. Acts 2:38 is still the door.

Please turn to John 3.

Sunday mornings Oxley has us in the epistles of John. Wednesday nights Ron is in the Gospel of John. John’s book is not like the other three. From the first sentence he is introducing a new creation: the Word, life, light, new wine in chapter 2, and in chapter 3 a new birth.

Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, a teacher who sat in Moses’ seat (John 3:1; Matthew 23). He came at night. He was only partly committed, and he was still drawn: he knew Jesus had come from God (John 3:2).

Jesus told him he must be born again (John 3:3–10), and then rebuked him for not understanding. “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” This was not a brand-new idea. Our minds go straight to baptism, and the early church often used this text that way. Baptism is necessary—Acts 2:38; 22:16. But that cannot be Jesus’ only point here. He has not even given His baptism to the disciples yet. He is talking about something Nicodemus should have recognized.

The rabbis already said a proselyte is like a child newly born. Pagan religions talked about new birth. Ezekiel had already said it: “I will sprinkle clean water on you… I will give you a new heart… I will put my Spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:24–29). Born of water and the Spirit is not a surprise if you have read that chapter.

Nicodemus’s problem was not vocabulary. He did not believe that kind of change was possible. Pharisees trusted rules. If a man was a sinner, he was a sinner. You hedge every law with more laws because you cannot trust the heart. If people can be reborn, then righteousness can come from the inside, and we do not have to entrust ourselves to our own self-control forever.

“You must be born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). The water cleanses (Ezekiel 36:25). The Spirit puts in a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26; Acts 2:38). The water washes us now; the Spirit changes what we will be. “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

The rest of the sermon is “Believe Me” (John 3:12, 15, 16, 18). It was hard for Nicodemus. To his credit he came. In John 19 he is no longer hidden. He brings the spices for Jesus’ body.

Do not wait to come until you have your sin under control. Your heart will not change until you come to God for the change. You think you can do it. You cannot. He can, and He wants to. John 3:5. Acts 2:38.

Good afternoon.

Matthew 16:18 says . . . When the Lord built His church, He designed it according to exact specifications that He expects all of His followers to abide by.

I found a quote from a web page called Faith Facts explaining what the Church of Christ believes that I think is a helpful place to begin a lesson about how God wants us to interpret the Bible. It says concerning Alexander Campbell, one of the first teachers among churches like ours in the United States in the early 1800s:

Campbell postulated two key doctrines: (1) restoration (or primitivism), and (2) Christian unity. Hughes (a Church Historian) points out in his history of the group that Campbell never grasped that these two goals are irreconcilable and mutually exclusive. His followers tended to coalesce around one or the other of these themes. So splits and disagreements were inevitable. His goal of restoration tended to be sectarian and exclusivist. His goal of unity based on his own simplistic principles ironically had the unintended effect of division by refusing to acknowledge denominational distinctives.

I think we’re all much more familiar with the term “Restoration” than “Primitivism” but basically they’re interchangeable terms. And if you’re going to read books by scholars and outsiders regarding what Churches like ours believe (Churches of Christ) they’re often going to use this term over restorationists. Church historians like Richard Hughes and Ed Harrell use this term because it describes the idea of trying to be like the primitive churches – primitive means the thing that was first or the original. So it’s the idea of modeling a contemporary church’s behaviors and practices after those first churches described in the New Testament.

If we’re going to be this kind of church, then our focus will be on the primitive church: How they became saved and follow that pattern; how their churches worshiped and follow their pattern; how the first churches organized their leadership; we need to learn everything about the pattern that the apostles commanded these churches to follow and obey it if we’re also going to be pleasing to God. I think this is what we’re digging for: Once upon a time, the apostle Paul went into a city, baptized a few people and established a brand new church there. Maybe it was Philippi or Thessalonica, it doesn’t matter which city. I’d like you to think about what he said to them that first meeting after they began to be baptized. What did they talk about? He must have told them about God’s plan for local churches, don’t you think? And the Lord’s Supper, and how church services should be organized? And who would be its leaders? That’s the conversation primitivists are wanting to recreate. But we don’t have any records of those conversations, so we have to piece it together based on the aftermath, based on what those Christians did that we can see in scripture. Alexander Campbell you probably already know was one of the founders of the restoration movement in the US and primitivist himself, and for him it meant abandoning human doctrines and the reciting of creeds enforced by clergy, demanding equality of all church members, placing clergy on equal footing with the lay members of the congregation, and advocated for the rights of the people to interpret the New Testament for themselves rather than adhere to a creedal system, a denominational hermeneutic, or a particular systematic theology. And he thought it would unite all Christians to drop creeds and all just get back to the Bible, but I agree that it hasn’t united people, that’s pretty obvious. But it’s the only path we are allowed to take to pursue unity. Let’s look at some scriptures about how we should be pursuing unity.

1 Corinthians 1:10 says . . . How should we be united? We must all agree. We must have the same mind and the same judgement. This is not a unity of tolerance but a unity of agreement.

The NIV says . . .

Ephesians chapter four further emphasizes a need to become united in doctrine. Beginning in verse 1, the apostle Paul teaches . . .

What is the goal of this passage? Unity. And how is it accomplished? God sent leaders and teachers to equip His people so that they can achieve unity of faith and knowledge and maturity so that they’re not carried about by every wind of doctrine but they’re speaking truth in love.

This has to be our goal. It’s been the goal of God’s people since Jesus died on the cross. Ed Harrell and Richard Hughes both argue that primitivism is not a new idea invented by Alexander Campbell. Richard Hughes calls it “old and venerable” in church history. Ed Harrell finds it among quieter movements during the Catholic age prior to the Reformation Movement.

So why is it the right approach that we study what the first Christians did and how the earliest Bible churches worshiped and organized and pattern ourselves after them today? Because the apostles did provide a universal pattern to Christians and churches.

You notice Paul reminding, for example, the Corinthian church over and over again that they must follow the teachings that have gone out to all the churches. 1 Corinthians 4:17.

1 Corinthians 7:17

1 Corinthians 11:1-2

1 Corinthians 11:16

14:33-34

16:1

So if there is a directive for all the churches, then we need to research what it was for . . . (See above)

Our approach should be to discover and follow the Bible’s pattern of teachings for all these things because the apostles provided a pattern for us.

And we should follow this primitivism approach because the Bible commands us to.

2 Thessalonians 2:15. Whatever the apostles said to those churches in person, we need to discover it and copy it ourselves. And whatever they said to them in the letters, we need to read it and copy it. It was designed to be followed, we are supposed to follow the teachings they provided.

Third, if we refused to take this approach of following a pattern, then the only option left is to do it the way we think is the right way, and that’s going to be a problem.

I think about the scripture from Judges which described disorder and sin in Israel. Judges 21:25.

I think about the two priests in the Old Testament who worshiped God in a way that He had not authorized. It doesn’t say they did something sinful. It just says they didn’t do it the right way. And God destroyed them for it.

The New Testament also makes it clear there are wrong interpretations, and we will be destroyed by them if we’re not careful. 2 Peter 3:15-16.

Now before we close, I want to acknowledge what I haven’t talked about tonight, because while I think we are in trouble if we don’t take this approach, we are also in trouble if we leave out important elements of God’s Word. I haven’t talked about God’s grace tonight. I pray to God. I talk to Him like He’s my Father, and I can do it without shame only because I’m convinced He’s forgiven me and He loves me as though I haven’t committed the offenses against Him from my past. I haven’t talked much about God’s love this morning. It’s impossible to pattern ourselves after New Testament Christians without loving everybody. The apostle Paul even wished he could be cursed by God if it meant the salvation of His old friends and community. But if we don’t diligently seek to pattern ourselves after the churches that we read about in the Bible, we may just as well hate our brother and depend on works salvation because we’ll be guilty of ignoring the teachings of the Lord.

Part of the pattern is how to become a Christian. And it involves repenting and being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. If you’re ready this morning to become a Christian in the same manner as the first Christians, just as Peter commanded them in the verse, we encourage you to take that step this morning.

Good morning. Over in the Old Testament there is a 5-chapter book called Lamentations that doesn’t get very much attention by us I don’t think.

It’s actually a collection of five Jewish poems about the destruction of Jerusalem that happened 2600 years ago, which is why the book has five chapters. The Septuagint and the Jewish rabbis all attribute its authorship to Jeremiah – and we know he wrote other laments because we’re told so in 2 Chronicles 35:25. Four of the poems have 22 verses and one has 66. They’re acrostic poems which means that each verse is built off of one of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

And the message of all of it is how Israel responded to God’s punishments after they sinned. So today we’re going to study from Lamentations about the consequences of sin and how repentance comes out of it. We all have loved ones that we are desperately waiting for to repent, and we think about them every day hoping something would happen to them to change their hearts. And that’s what happens here in Lamentations and we get insight into what it looked like and how it worked, and so hopefully we can learn from this scripture what it’s going to take for our loved ones to find repentance, and what it’s going to look like when it happens.

When the book opens the first thing we see is a group of people that have lost everything. Lamentations 1:1, 4, 6-7. So it’s an image of the city of Jerusalem personified, missing how glorious she used to be. “I used to be someone, honored by the nations – they looked up to me. They visited our city. Our streets were constantly full, people used to travel our roads and come for our great festivals, our princes led with great honor, and our priests established the law and worship, and our prophets received messages from God, we were a glorious people.” So that’s how the book begins – it doesn’t start with repentance, or an acknowledgement of sin, there’s some of that in the book, but what stands out is the loss. And I think that’s important for us to understand as we’re seeking repentance from other people. We want them to know the loss of glory that comes when we sin – it causes us to fall short of the glory of God. We should see a picture in our minds of God creating man as the crowning glory of His creation, and placing him above all things because he is fearfully and wonderfully made, and given a seat of honor, Because repentance happens when we understand from where we’ve fallen. It makes me think of the prodigal son who finally repented when he got so hungry that he remembered how good things used to be. “Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from the days of old.” The Israelites could have found contentment in that glory as the royal people of God, but instead they chose rebellion (1:18) and sought lovers among the world of man (1:2).

When God finally had enough of their sin, He punished the Israelites harshly. Lamentations 2:1-8. There’s no question that God’s punishments towards Israel were harsh, but a couple of surprising things stand out in Lamentations. First, God’s heart is not in it when He punishes. Lamentations 3:31-33 says, Lamentations 3:31-33. He doesn’t want to swing the belt, He doesn’t want people to hurt and suffer at His hands, there’s no joy in it for the Lord. Sometimes I hope for consequences to happen to my loved ones so they’ll repent, but then I’m asking of God something that His heart does not want to do. Because He loves them. It’s painful for Him to discipline – He only does it because whom the Lord loves He disciplines, Hebrews 12. And when He hurts us, He’s hurting Himself as well. Lamentations 1:1, 6-8. I think we need to remember that our glory is His glory. Man is His creation that He saw was very good, and Israel’s glory was God’s glory, and when He destroyed them He destroyed His own footstool (which is the ark of the covenant, 1 Chronicles 28:2, the place where God touched earth), His own temple and altar and His own daughter – not only did He have to sacrifice His own son but here he lays waste to His daughter. God doesn’t want to destroy us and it pains Him to do so we learn in Lamentations. And it’s so comforting to know that God loves my loved ones more than I love them.

Another lesson from Lamentations is that repentance is a long and complex process sometimes. It’s a little surprising to read through the aftermath of their discipline from God and find relatively little in the way of apology – it’s there but it’s not primary. For God’s people their repentance began with grief for they glory they had lost. They spent time reflecting on how their friends and lovers did not help them through or betrayed them. Lamentations 1:2, 2:19. So part of it is realizing there’s nobody who can come fix it for you – not your parents, siblings, husband, wife, you are alone. And then when they did finally cry out to God in their suffering, it wasn’t asking for forgiveness, it was asking for mercy – that comes before confession and they ask for that much more than for forgiveness. Lamentations 1:9-11, 20, 2:19-22, 5:1. Let’s be careful not to be too formulaic about repentance when we’re trying to bring people to God. It’s HBRCB, then live a faithful life, take communion every Sunday, check the boxes. And I know you know this but I think it’s a good reminder that we also need to teach people how to say to God, “Look and see our disgrace! Woe to us for we have sinned! Why do you forsake us for so many days?” And when we’re trying to get our loved ones to return to God, let’s look for all these indicators of repentance – wishing for what was, feeling alone, looking for mercy. Now the people of Lamentations did also acknowledge their sin and sought forgiveness, so that was part of it too. You see it first in 1:5, 14, 18, 22, 3:39. So the confession is there, along with many other signs that happen when people are turning back to God from their sins.

Another lesson from Lamentations is that repentance is a long and complex process sometimes. It’s a little surprising to read through the aftermath of their discipline from God and find relatively little in the way of apology – it’s there but it’s not primary. For God’s people their repentance began with grief for they glory they had lost. They spent time reflecting on how their friends and lovers did not help them through or betrayed them. Lamentations 1:2, 2:19. So part of it is realizing there’s nobody who can come fix it for you – not your parents, siblings, husband, wife, you are alone. And then when they did finally cry out to God in their suffering, it wasn’t asking for forgiveness, it was asking for mercy – that comes before confession and they ask for that much more than for forgiveness. Lamentations 1:9-11, 20, 2:19-22, 5:1. Let’s be careful not to be too formulaic about repentance when we’re trying to bring people to God. It’s HBRCB, then live a faithful life, take communion every Sunday, check the boxes. And I know you know this but I think it’s a good reminder that we also need to teach people how to say to God, “Look and see our disgrace! Woe to us for we have sinned! Why do you forsake us for so many days?” And when we’re trying to get our loved ones to return to God, let’s look for all these indicators of repentance – wishing for what was, feeling alone, looking for mercy. Now the people of Lamentations did also acknowledge their sin and sought forgiveness, so that was part of it too. You see it first in 1:5, 14, 18, 22, 3:39. So the confession is there, along with many other signs that happen when people are turning back to God from their sins.

And then one final point from the book of Lamentations. Much of the book is sadness and loss and despair and crying out for help. But the third and longest poem takes a turn in the middle towards hope. Maybe we can recover from this. Maybe God will relent and restore us, maybe it doesn’t have to end this way. Finding hope needs to be a part of the repentance process as well. Read with me beginning in Lamentations 3:17. Lamentations 3:17-33. If people are going to repent they need to find a way to hope. Judas betrayed Jesus and then killed himself because he couldn’t find it, but Peter denied Jesus and turned back because he didn’t lose hope. What did the writer of Lamentations realize? That’s God’s love is a covenant love – that’s the kind of love that has made an oath, that is committed, for better or worse, and that’s the kind of love God has for His people. His mercies are infinite. So be quiet and wait for Him – there may yet still be hope. And as sure are His judgements, so are His compassions.

You get a sense reading through the book of Lamentations that repentance is complex and messy. It’s not formulaic, it’s not neat and tidy, because that’s not how hearts work. We’ll need this book if we want our loved ones to turn to God because it has so much wisdom to teach us about how that works. Just remember that as much as God does not want to do it He will punish severely, and there will be a judgement day where He will send many to eternal judgement. But the good news is that He’s a loving and merciful God who wants to save. Acts 22:16.

Good morning.

After Jesus died on the cross, the scripture says, Ephesians 4:8-10. This is the story of our release from captivity. Jesus’ broken body is restored, and He’s now a powerful hero. And He fights His way through the army of darkness with determination and strength to find His people who are being imprisoned by the devil and his angels. But the battle is lost and he makes way through them, And He grabs the bars and rips the door off its hinges, and tells the captives it’ll be OK now, and marches them back through their captors towards the heavens. And that’s our story. That’s what He did for you and me, Paying the cost for our freedom and leading us out. But then after He does that for us, some of us do this:

Hebrews 6:4-6. Can you imagine some of us whom He saved from that dungeon plotting against him after bringing us out of there to put Him back up on the cross? Who’s gonna hammer the nails back in? We wouldn’t ever literally do that, but the book of Hebrews explains to us what is the equivalent of recrucifying Him today. If you missed Oxley’s Hebrews class last quarter you missed a great study and he put a lot of work into it, and so I don’t want to repeat it, you can listen to it on our Youtube page, Twitter or Facebook – but I do want to focus on how we can avoid re-crucifying Jesus. Laura and I know a couple of guys in Alabama who love old tractors. They go to tractor shows all over the country, they own some of them, they love them, so I feel kind of bad when they start talking about them that I don’t care. And there’s kind of a sense of that in the book of Hebrews – it’s like the author is trying to tell us how wonderful and glorious Christ is, but he keeps catching our eyes glossing over – this verse is a little strange being in there,

Because the story of the book of Hebrews is really the exalted Jesus. It’s His story of conquering and being our hero, but the author has to keep stopping His beautiful story because He knows that some of the people listening to it aren’t impressed.

From the beginning it’s one beautiful image of Jesus after another. Chapter one starts with an image of Jesus pre-earth, before the world ever got Him. In heaven He was celebrated. The pride and joy, the radiance of the Father. Hebrews 1:3, 5, 6, 9b. They love Him. The angels, who are older than the earth, created before Genesis 1:1, wise and powerful, Bow down to Jesus.

So when it came time for God to choose a hero to save man, though heaven was filled with amazing creatures, it was heaven’s crown jewel that He chose to send down as earth’s hero. And people aren’t amazed by this. They’re not in awe of who Jesus is to heaven. They don’t appreciate that we saw Him at His lowest and not the form of Him whose eyes blaze fire and whose voice is the sound of rushing waters. John 1:9-11.

The ones guilty of recrucifying Jesus are the ones who neglect Him who is our great salvation. Who are unimpressed by who He is and what He’s done. Heaven must be so confused why we would not be amazed by their best hero, And the Words that came from His lips.

And we keep going into chapter two with the heroics of Christ. Where we’re told about what happened when He left heaven to come to us. There are so many stories in man’s mythologies about demigods becoming heroes for humans, like Achilles and Hercules and Gilgamesh – it’s like man has always understood our need for God to become man and save us. For Jesus to bring us out of captivity, He had to first become one of us. So Hebrews 2 describes this part of the hero’s journey. He was stripped on His way out of heaven. I imagine His hair being cut like Samson. His power being removed. And He was given the body of a child and told to go rescue us from that prison. Into the domain of the devil and His angels who always knew who He was, and sought ways to take advantage of his vulnerability through sufferings and temptation. But still through all of the suffering Jesus was strong enough to bring us to glory. Hebrews 2:9-10. (Emphasize SUFFERING)

So consider Him, the scripture says! Hebrews 3:1 Which implies appreciate Him, being in awe of Him and what He did for us.

He’s the one who needs to be our hero like He is heaven’s. For the Jews their hero, was Moses, the parter of the Red Sea, brought them out of captivity from Egypt, communed with God, and chapter three sets Christ above him. We all have heroes. My great-grandfather was pretty awesome. He died protecting my grandfather, who was a child at the time, from the train. But none of them can compare to what Jesus did for us, the jewel of heaven becoming one of us to suffer and die for us. And if we can’t get to that point where He’s more amazing to us than anyone else, as God says to the stubborn Jews,

Hebrews 3:12-15.

The message of chapter 4 continues the pattern in the book of Hebrews of the great epic of Jesus stopping to address the unimpressed. Hebrews 4:1-2, 6-7. You’d better find your awe before it’s too late. Right now, the prison doors are opened, and the demons are terrified of Jesus and standing aside so that we can get out. But don’t assume He’s going to hold it open through tomorrow.

He so wants us to be impressed and excited about Jesus and His great victory as He returns back to heaven after His victory for us: Hebrews 4:14-16. Can you see Him as the hero?

Hebrews 5:7-10 says . . . Hebrews 5:7-10.

And then this is where the real frustration comes through in this Hebrew epic. Hebrews 5:11. I like the NIV here – “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. Who’s he mad at? Who are the ones that he says are trying to put Jesus back on the cross? So who are the ones who are grabbing at the Lord trying to put Him back on the cross? Part of it, maybe where it starts, is not being in awe of Him (Romans 1:20-21), And they don’t love the Old Story of the Savior who came down from Heaven. And we don’t know it. Here at the end of chapter 5 is so eager to tell us great things about Jesus, but he quits in frustration knowing that we haven’t read and studied enough to understand it. We are expected to study, and to know who Melchizedek is, and know the Psalms that prophecy about Christ – that’s a gauge of our love and excitement for Him. Also, the ones crucifying Christ again are the ones who aren’t passionately and zealously growing in their faith, Hebrews 6:1-6. Take a look at this list – unrepentant, faithless, unknowledgeable, These are the ones who fall away, and who are unimpressed with a risen Savior.

And are you impressed by the quest that He completed, having to do so in the form of a man and without His heavenly abilities? That’s what it’s going to take to push ahead towards deeper faith and knowledge. Hebrews 6:9-12. Hebrews 12:28 9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Can you see Christ on His throne now? Are you impressed with what He’s done for you? Would you like to join the assembly of the released captives? You can do so today, but maybe not tomorrow. Acts 22:16.

I think we’re all familiar with what Jesus called the greatest commands -

The first is . . . And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself – there is no commandment greater than these.

Not as many know where those commands came from in the Old Testament. This morning we’re going to be studying the command to love our neighbor as ourself, focusing on the second half of that command – that we need to love them like we love OURSELVES.

It was Moses in Leviticus 19:18 who originally gave the command to love your neighbor as yourself, And the implication is that we can only love our neighbor so far as we love ourselves, That one love is based on the other.

Now before we go any farther, we need to address the ungodly way that our culture understands the idea of loving self. God warns us about a form of self-love that puts us above everybody else; That does what we want; That is not sacrificial; And hates submission, and is self-absorbed. I think it’s true that much of my profession – the mental health counseling world – has pushed this kind of self love on our culture believing that it’s the solution to so many of our problems: If we just do more for ourselves, if we take more time for ourselves, if we can spend more time seeking to understand ourselves, then we’ll find peace. And so I want to acknowledge this as a problem before we get further into this morning’s lesson because it’s going to get in the way of our obedience to one of the greatest commands. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, yes. Deny yourself and take up your cross, certainly. Let someone else praise you and not your own mouth. Submit yourselves to God. Honor one another above yourselves, Don’t seek your own good, but the good of others.

So whatever the world thinks it means to love self, it’s different than this.

But I do think it’s telling, don’t you, that so many people out in the world can’t stand themselves? They are tired of carrying around so much shame and feeling devalued and worthless and flawed. It’s sad to see people hurting so much but who can’t see that God is what they need.

So what do we know about Biblical self-love? Well we know first of all that it’s essential if we’re going to be able to love our neighbor. To the degree that we love ourselves, we’ll love our neighbor, and to the degree that we hate ourselves we’ll hate our neighbor. I don’t understand why some Christians think it’s OK that we despise ourselves – “The only reason God loves me is because He decides to even though there’s nothing loving about me.” I’m just worthless garbage forgiven by God. Well good luck loving your neighbor with that view of self. That doesn’t work, and if you haven’t figured out your own value yet you’d better work on that before it’s too late.

So we know that self-love must exist before we can love our neighbor. Another thing we know about it is that it’s a different kind of love from the world. While self-love ultimately means we want what’s best for ourselves – For example, I don’t want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven and be with God. I want to seek holiness and righteousness and wisdom, and I want to be a partaker of the divine nature and be everything God made me to be. Ultimately I want what is best for me, but for now, while I’m on earth, I accept pain, I sacrifice myself for other people. Philippians 2:3-4 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Romans 12:10 – “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Galatians 5:13 – “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” John 15:12-13 – “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” 1 Corinthians 10:24 – “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.” Ephesians 5:21 – “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Mark 9:35 – “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’” So we know that love for self cannot be a selfish love.

And then one other thing we know about it is that it’s based on our connection with God. Why do we love ourselves? Because God loves us. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God (1 John 3:1). He jealously desires the spirit within us, James 4:5. He values us and He wants us. And I’ve often said that to God we are His pearl of Great Price – He has spent so much time and effort and heartache trying to rescue us, He must see something of value in us. And so that makes me realize I must have value. Imagine a child being raised by a parent who with every word sends a message to that child that they are worthless – what do you think they’ll feel about themselves? But then imagine a loving parent who is protective and nurturing and finds joy in their child and with every action sends a message to that child that they are wonderful – how will they feel about themselves? Our God must really think we are special given everything He has done for us. But even beyond that, when I recognize that He’s my Father and I’m His Son, and He’s the God of the Universe and I’m created in His image, and He is holy and righteous and good and He believes I can be like that and He’s showing me how – To come from that God and to be like Him above all the rest of this vast creation, I must be something special. John 1:12 – “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Romans 8:16-17 – “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” 1 John 3:1 – “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! Psalm 139:13-14 – “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” Galatians 4:6-7 – “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” 1 Peter 2:9 – “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” This of course does not negate the fact that we are all sinners and have fallen short and unworthy of His salvation – actually it makes it even more tragic that creatures so wonderful, every one of them, rejected their nature and their God and turned away from Him.

And so now let’s turn to Leviticus 19, the origin of the command to love our neighbors as ourselves, and understand more how all of this connects together. Leviticus 19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Where do ungodly people think they came from? What makes them special? They don’t understand what we understand – That we have a holy God who makes us also holy. And when we recognize who we are and where we came from, we recognize our value and can then give love to others. 3 ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. People who honor where they came from feel honorable, but people who are embarrassed where they came from feel ashamed. 4 ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves [a]molded gods: I am the Lord your God. Romans chapter one talks about mankind cheapening God by turning to creation and worshiping it over the Creator. We’re just devaluing ourselves by doing so. 5 ‘And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it of your own free will. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. 7 And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. 8 Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people. Cheap worship devalues us. People who neglect worship devalue themselves. Every decision we make either adds to or takes away from our evaluation of ourselves. 9 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God. When we recognize who we are, God’s holy people, then even the lowest among us seems worthy of our love. 11 ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. And why would we when we honor them? 12 And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. Cheapening God cheapens us 13 ‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord. Value ties back to God. How we treat each other ties back to God. What we do and how we perceive ourselves depends on our recognition that He is the Lord. 15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. 17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. Just look out in your imagination for a moment at the vast crowds and communities of people around us who don’t understand that the Lord is God (or don’t want to know), and don’t recognize how great and holy He is, And therefore can’t understand how holy and wonderful they themselves are. And they’re all desperate to find value in themselves but don’t know how so they turn to selfishness. But we do recognize that we are loved by a great God who values us, and we see our value as holy children of a holy God, And that love that we have for who we are makes it easy to love and honor even the lowliest around us. And so if you’re one of those who is ashamed of who you are, and sees no value in yourself, don’t be OK with that. You need to fix it or you’ll never be able to keep this command. If you’re ready to return back to the God who made you, He will redeem you and set you back on the path of holiness. He will teach you to live an honorable life and learn to love selflessly. Acts 22:16.

Romans 7:15-20.

Good morning. How badly would you like to overcome your sin?

3,000 years ago God granted Solomon a wish – Ask, and I’ll give it to you. Long life, riches, the death of your enemies – he could have asked for any of those things. But we remember what he chose – wisdom.

What would you have asked for, if you could have anything? I think I would have asked for something different – to overcome sin and temptation. How great would it be if that were not a problem for us? That we would always make the right decision, and we never gave into our anger or lust or laziness or pettiness.

It’s definitely something Paul understood – he’s the one who described the battle in the passage we read a moment ago – and I’ve never met a Christian who didn’t relate to those words. So how do we overcome it? When I passed out the sheets a few weeks ago asking you which topics you’d most like to discuss, this was one of the top vote getters, and so I’d like to explore with you this morning about what the scripture says concerning how to overcome sin.

The first thing that will help is to understand what exactly sin is. And of course it’s doing wrong things, bad things. Many have pointed out the technical definition of missing the mark. But why is it so easy for us to choose the bad things over the good things? It’s ironic to me that when people come into counseling, it doesn’t matter whether they’re Christian or not, everyone wants to know the answer to this. How can I get myself to do the good things and not the bad things? Everyone recognizes their struggle with sin to some degree. In a counseling office, we’re trying to help people understand why they made the wrong choice over the right choice. We talk about the flight or flight system, which is where our more basic instincts just take over and our brains shut off and we lose control and lash out at people or do things that we’ll regret later. Or we talk about how we use unhealthy things to cope with life a lot of times, like smoking or drinking, because who we are without those things is even worse.

Now I say all that because it’s similar to how the scriptures explain sin to us over in Romans 7. How does the Bible explain sin? Read with me beginning in verse 1, and notice that sinning is being compared here to rebelling not against God but against a heartless master with impossible expectations of us. Romans 7:1-14.

So here’s an image to help with an understanding of the passage. This guy is the law (this isn’t God by the way, this is a representation of the Law God puts us under) – he holds us captive, verse 6 says, and he is very demanding of us – he expects us to be perfect or we die. We want to be freed from him because he is heartless, which is what is described in the first three verses. Now why do we want to sin against this guy and not just perfectly do everything he says? Well for one, there’s a part of me that wants to do the opposite of what that guy says. Verse 7 describes the rebellion we feel when God’s Law tells us to do something. Romans 7:7-8. So one reason we sin is because we see the Law like this guy, and so we don’t want to follow it. Another reason for our sin is described down in verse 10. Romans 7:10-11. Sin is when we’re deceived. So think about what this means for a minute – we’re enslaved to this guy, then someone else comes along and says, “You don’t need to listen to that guy, he’s just trying to keep you from the things that will make you happy and feel good.” So the law says, “Don’t covet,” but sin says try it. Now what’s really important here is the reason we fall for the deception – it’s because we know this guy doesn’t have all the answers for us – look at him! I’m not happy just fully complying with everything he says, there’s got to be something else out there that will fulfill me. Or, I am stressed trying to live a perfect life, I need to find some things that get me through, that make life tolerable – now I’m vulnerable to being deceived by sin which tells me it has things that can make life more tolerable. So what is sin? It’s deception, and it’s rebellion. But then there’s something else really important to understand in this passage that explains to us what sin is. Notice up in verse 5 there’s a very important phrase – “While we were living in the flesh.” Sin is when we’re living in the flesh. So what does that mean? I once heard a preacher describe man as God took the world’s alpha predator and then put a soul inside of it. So imagine if God did that with a tiger or a bear – all of a sudden this hunter, this instinctual creature has a piece of God inside of it and becomes spiritually aware. It still has all of its instincts and impulses inside of it, and none of the other bears or tigers have souls and so it still has to survive and function within that world, and the law of the jungle is still eat or be eaten. So how is this animal going to now cope with now also having a soul?

My point is that sin is when we’re living still in the flesh. We’re still thinking like we’re living in this world where the rule is survival of the fittest and if you want it take it and work your way up the food chain. Our flesh is never going to be able to submit to law, and the only thing we can do is kill it and start living solely by the Spirit.

And if we do that, we’re free from this guy and so we won’t feel so much like rebelling and we won’t fall for deception so much because we’ll like where we’re at and trust what our new Master is telling us.

But there’s one more thing about sin that we need to understand in order to overcome it, back in the passage that we read at the beginning. And this is maybe the 1st thing we have to understand and do. Beginning in verse 15 we see a man who doesn’t want sin in his life. Romans 7:15-20. If we’re going to overcome sin, we have to start by making a choice. Preparing for this lesson I noticed over and over way back in Old Testament days God challenging people to make a choice about what they’re going to do. 1. **Isaiah 1:16** *“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil…”* Context: God rebukes Judah’s hypocritical worship, directly challenging them to stop their evil deeds and purify their actions. 2. **Isaiah 55:7** *“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him…”* Context: God urges sinners to abandon their wicked ways and thoughts, focusing on the act of forsaking sin for mercy. 3. **Jeremiah 4:14** *“O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?”* Context: God calls Jerusalem to cleanse their hearts from evil thoughts to avoid judgment, emphasizing the rejection of sin. 4. **Jeremiah 18:11** *“Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah… ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am shaping disaster against you… Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’”* Context: God warns Judah to turn from their evil ways and amend their behavior to avert disaster. 5. **Jeremiah 25:5** *“…Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you…”* Context: Through prophets, God repeatedly calls Israel to abandon their evil ways and deeds to avoid exile. 6. **Jeremiah 35:15** *“…Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them…”* Context: God reminds Judah of His persistent call to turn from evil deeds, focusing on moral reform. 7. **Ezekiel 3:19** *“But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity…”* Context: God instructs Ezekiel to warn sinners to turn from wickedness, highlighting their responsibility to abandon sin. 8. **Ezekiel 13:22** *“…You have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life.”* Context: God condemns false prophets for failing to challenge the wicked to turn from their evil ways. 9. **Ezekiel 14:6** *“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.”* Context: God commands Israel to repent by turning away from idols and abominations, focusing on rejecting sinful practices. 10. **Ezekiel 18:21** *“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live…”* Context: God outlines the path of repentance, emphasizing the wicked turning away from all sins to live. 11. **Ezekiel 18:30** *“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.”* Context: God calls for individual repentance, urging Israel to turn from transgressions to avoid ruin. 12. **Ezekiel 33:9** *“But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity…”* Context: God emphasizes the need to warn sinners to turn from their wicked ways, focusing on abandoning sin. 13. **Ezekiel 33:11** *“As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways…”* Context: God pleads with sinners to turn from their evil ways, highlighting His desire for them to abandon sin. 14. **Hosea 14:1** *“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.”* Context: God calls Israel to address their stumbling by acknowledging and turning from their iniquity. 15. **Joel 2:13** *“…Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful…”* Context: God urges Judah to repent inwardly, turning from sin with genuine heart change, not just outward rituals. 16. **Amos 5:14** *“Seek good, and not evil, that you may live…”* Context: God challenges Israel to reject evil and pursue good, focusing on abandoning sinful behavior for survival. 17. **Jonah 3:8** *“…Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.”* Context: Nineveh’s king, prompted by Jonah, calls for all to turn from evil ways and violence, leading to repentance. 18. **Zephaniah 2:3** *“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord.”* Context: God urges the humble to seek righteousness, implying a turn from sinful behavior to avoid judgment. 19. **Zechariah 1:4** *“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds,’ but they did not hear…”* Context: God recalls past calls to turn from evil ways and deeds, urging the current generation to heed the challenge. 20. **Malachi 3:7** *“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts…”* Context: God challenges Israel to stop turning aside from His statutes, calling them to repent from disobedience.

If you were to ask me, “What is a Christian,” I think I’d start with this – It’s someone who’s sick and tired of their own sin, who hates it and is desperate to remove it from their lives. That’s what draws us to God – we don’t like who we are without Him. And we’re wretched, and we recognize that the answer isn’t in the world, and that we can’t escape without Him.

A Christian isn’t somebody who just wants forgiveness – what good does that do? Forgived people still don’t know how to change. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Of course not, because we hate sin and want nothing to do with it! To overcome sin, we need to understand what it is – it’s rebellion against a law that we perceive to be unreasonable, and it’s when we’re vulnerable to being deceived, and it’s when we’re still choosing to live in the flesh rather than in the spirit.

If you’ll stop living by the flesh, God can transform your mind and your heart so that you’re no longer stuck in the sin cycle. But you’ve got to get serious about it and open the guide and open your heart to Him. He’ll fill you with the fruit of the Spirit. He’ll bless you with the Holy Spirit. Do you believe that He’ll do that for you? Do you believe in the transformative power of this Word? Prove it. Acts 2:38.

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13–14).

Some translators soften that to “be brave.” The words are stronger. God is telling us to act like men. That is not popular. If it is His will, we need to understand it.

Today is Father’s Day. Fathers discipline and instruct (Ephesians 6:4). They keep children on the track. They teach them to do right no matter the cost. “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). Fathers introduce children to the love of a Father in heaven. There is something God put in men that is not the same gift He gave women. He also calls us, at times, to a mother’s gentleness (1 Thessalonians 2:7; Isaiah 66:13). Both are holy. This text is about the first.

It does not mean more aggression. The Corinthians already loved that. They chided Paul for being weak (2 Corinthians 10:10). They wanted a man who would strike them in the mouth (2 Corinthians 11:20–21). That is not the manliness Paul commands.

It does not mean quit every quality we associate with women. Scripture honors those qualities.

What he does mean is grow up. He could not speak to them as spiritual men, but as infants—jealous, fleshly, walking like mere men (1 Corinthians 3:1–3). Men know their priorities. Faith, the assembly, the Word, and the lost come first. Children live in the drama. Men get along with their brethren. 1 Corinthians 13:11–13 says the same thing inside the argument about gifts: put away childish things.

David’s mighty men show the rest (2 Samuel 23). Josheb-basshebeth sat in the seat and faced eight hundred. Eleazar fought when the army fled. Shammah stood in a lentil field when the rest withdrew. Benaiah went into a pit after a lion on a snowy day. Uriah is listed among them, and he died—not because he was invincible, but because he would not do wrong even when the king invited him to.

Mighty men stay to do the job. When everyone else cowers, we stay. We do it in love. You do not jump into a pit for yourself. You do it because you will not let the lion have the people you care about. God is worth our manliness, and so are His people.

Are you strong against sin? Are you strong in your duties to God? If not, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Seek the Lord while He may be found. Come get strengthened, then go do what needs to be done.

Please turn to 1 Corinthians 13.

I do not get many Sundays to preach, so I want them to go where they are needed. This is one of those texts. I am thankful for this church. Oxley, Ron, and I talk every time we meet about serving you, not the other way around. Tell us what we are missing. To keep the culture God expects, we have to practice this line: “Love… believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

If this chapter is God’s definition of love, how well do you do it? Jesus said the whole law hangs on loving God and neighbor (Matthew 22). Do you love this church that way?

The definition is stranger than we admit. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing. So loving people means being more bothered when they are wrong—not less. And love believes all things. That cannot mean “be gullible.”

It does not mean believe every lie. “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15). “Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips” (Proverbs 26:24–26). It does not mean trust everyone the same way the moment they apologize. Even God requires a man to prove himself before he is entrusted with more. Faithful in little, faithful in much.

What it does mean is balance. Wise as serpents, innocent as doves. A church that lives on suspicion is a miserable place. This group does not trust that group. That man does not know what he is doing. That is not 1 Corinthians 13.

It also means believe the truth of God. “Love… rejoices with the truth” (v. 6). Some ask how anyone can know what the Bible says because good people disagree. That question does not even believe God that His words can be understood. Love takes Him at His word and then studies.

I do not expect you to believe every word I say. I do expect you to believe in me—to have faith in me—because that is part of how you love me. I owe you the same courtesy.

Calvin said love believes what is good of another and does not suspect without cause. Matthew Henry saw it as assuming the best. Barnes said love is not disposed to be credulous—and still believes that good may exist where it is not at once apparent.

There is an old story about a teacher, Mrs. Thompson, and a boy named Teddy. She did not like him until she read why he had become the boy in the third row. Then she put on the broken bracelet and the cheap cologne and taught children instead of subjects. That is the culture we have to guard.

You can have gifts, generosity, and faith, and still be nothing if you will not learn this. Love believes all things.

Good morning and happy Easter – Many many centuries ago people started celebrating this day because Jesus raised up from the dead. Jesus was only 33 years old when His enemies finally caught him because they wanted to kill him because they were jealous of Him. So they had his hands and feet nailed to a cross until He died. And to make sure He was dead a soldier took a sword and stabbed him into the heart until blood and water came out. And then they somehow pried his hands and feet off of the wood before it got too dark that night, it was probably a Friday night, and a man named Joseph asked some people to help him carry the body to a cave that he had carved into the rock with a rock bed inside, and they covered Jesus’ body with a cloth and then rolled a huge stone over the entrance to the cave so nobody could get inside – it was way to big for anybody to move. And Jesus’ enemies wanted some soldiers to guard that cave to make sure nobody took his body away. But on Sunday morning really early, God sent an angel down from heaven, and with a great earthquake he was so strong that he easily pushed the rock out of the way, and it scared those soldiers to death. And some ladies who had come down to put spices on Jesus’ body went inside and saw that Jesus wasn’t in there anymore. Jesus had came back to life and took the cloth off his body and folded them up and left. And so many people saw Jesus after He left the tomb – His apostles, several women who knew him, and 500 people at one time. It’s one of the greatest gifts God gave to us to help us believe, and it’s the whole reason Christianity started and got so big like it is today. And Easter should be a reminder of that and boost our faith. We are surrounded by memories of the past here in the present. Those pews you’re sitting were once living trees, rooted in a serene forest long before automobiles hummed. In Colorado’s mountains or a Midwest woodland, they grew skyward, their bark grazed by deer and elk, their branches alive with the chatter of nesting birds. Jim wasn’t always 84 years old. He used to sleep in Vietnam’s dense jungles, serving his country, sitting in tense silence, ears tuned to the forest’s whispers, his body stung by Agent Orange’s toxic mist. So many things around us carry memories. How many centuries of churches have had Bibles in their pews? The King James from 1611, The Wycliffe from 1382, the Latin Vulgate in 405, manuscripts still in museums that were probably once in churches from the 200s and 300s, copied from copies of the original writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – that Bible would make us recognizable to the earliest disciples of Jesus if they saw us today because we maintain their reverence of the Words of God. And this Lord’s Supper – I think it’s awesome that we added another week today to a feast that has been kept every Sunday by Christians since Jesus ascended. We didn’t invent this feast, we just continue it down the line. The fact that we Christians exist and are meeting together today provides evidence to the world today that Jesus was real and that He died and rose from the dead, because we are part of a movement that has a beginning, and our predecessors say that beginning was the resurrection of Jesus. And today’s Easter, which really is the day Jesus raised from the dead.

It happened on the first day of the week almost 2000 years ago and was given to us as a gift by God to help us believe. I want to show you this morning three reactions to the resurrection from people in Jesus’ day, and then conclude by asking you what is your reaction to it?

Starting with the enemies of Jesus. They knew the resurrection happened but still wouldn’t follow Jesus. Read with me beginning in Matthew 28:1. Matthew 28:1-15. Does it make sense to you that the soldiers and the Jewish leaders still didn’t believe even after knowing that Jesus raised from the dead? After an angel came down from heaven like lightning and rolled the stone away and scared these soldiers to death? And the Jewish leaders’ reaction is to lie about it? How do you make sense of that? This is the best I can do. Some people, no matter what, are just never going to believe in God. And the reason is they don’t like God. They’re only going to worship God if He does things how they think he should do them. I listen to famous unbelievers talk about God and the Bible today and debate Christians, and one thing I notice is that they don’t like God or His Bible. They think He’s harsh and cruel or stupid or egotistical. So do you know what they would do if they found out God was real? They’d hate him! They’d look for some way to hurt him or turn people against him or maybe hope there’s some other god out there somewhere who could defeat him. So why did the enemies of Jesus still not believe even after presented with solid evidence of His resurrection? Because they didn’t like him. Mark 15:10 says, Mark 15:10. They remind me of Joseph’s brothers. Joseph had dreams that his brothers would bow down to him in Genesis 37. And he wasn’t shy about telling them. He even had a dream that the sun, moon and stars would bow down to him. And they were so jealous of him that they wanted to kill him. There’s no way the Jewish leaders could worship Jesus because they were supposed to be the ones God was impressed with and everyone honored. And the resurrection really makes it clear to us – they were ready to make God their enemy and go to war against Him if He could not be the God they wanted Him to be. Is God the right kind of God for you? Do you like what He wants you to do? If not you’re eventually either going to fight against Him or go create a different God for yourself that more suits what you want. The enemies of Jesus knew the resurrection was true but still rejected God.

The second reaction I’d like you to notice is from Mary Magdalene. Mary is so wonderful to me because so far as I can tell she was the only person the Bible tells us about who never stopped being a believer in Jesus. We know three things about Mary prior to her presence at the resurrection of Jesus. First, Jesus had cast 7 demons out of her earlier. Then she became his disciple and cared for him – we know, secondly, that she had money and financially supported Jesus and traveled with Him, according to Luke 8. And then third we know that she stayed with Jesus for the six hours that he suffered and died on the cross. Actually, John 19:25 says that she stayed NEAR the cross with Him and with his mother. She loved Him. So it’s within her character that she would also seek to help Jesus after He died. John 20:1-13. It’s so great to me that Mary doesn’t need a resurrection to happen for Jesus to be her Lord. We do, but she didn’t. She doesn’t understand what’s going on with Jesus dying, but what she does know is that He is her Lord still. And why shouldn’t He be? He had cast 7 demons out of her, what more proof does she need? She heard from Him the words of life already, she loves him so much that no matter what He is her Lord. Is that how you feel about Him? If so then why do you think your devotion level is so lacking? If you don’t have the level of faith and devotion you need, then it’s because you’re not ready to be fully sure about God yet – is God going to be the God you need for your family, for your life, what are the consequences going to be for becoming more devoted and aliening other people in your life that you need? I suggest that you get to know the Lord better if you’re going to have faith like Mary – figure out who Isaiah says Jesus would be, look at how Jesus talks to people, really study how He saves people according to the book of Romans, look at Jesus the hero in the book of Hebrews, and the great plan He fulfilled in Ephesians, and then you will love Him enough to share Mary’s devotion.

The third reaction to the resurrection belongs to the 11 apostles (Judas is dead), and I think we are most like them. When Jesus died, the apostles lost faith – they didn’t know what to do or what to believe anymore. When Peter and John heard from Mary that the tomb was empty they were excited and ran to the tomb, and John 20:8 says they believed. But Matthew 28:17 tells us that doubt lingered among them even as Jesus appeared to them and spoke to them. And John adds in chapter 20:19 that on the evening of the resurrection they’ve locked themselves into a room because they’re still afraid of the Jews even after hearing of the resurrection. Did they have reason not to believe in Him? Had they not seen even more miracles than Mary saw? Did they not hear greater words than Mary heard? But they still weren’t sure that Jesus was who they thought He should be.

Now of course eventually they do come around, and their faith becomes firm and they change the world. And we’re the result of that actually. Thank God that He was willing to give us the resurrection so that we could believe. Now where do you stand? Is God just not who you want Him to be? Or is He everything to you like He is for Mary? Or do you find that you still need Him to show you His power so that your faith can become what you need it to be? He will do that for you if you’re willing to learn about Him in the Word. The resurrection happened, and it led to a chain of events that results in our gathering this morning with Bibles in our pews and our table prepared this morning with the bread and the wine, the body and blood of the Lord. And now it’s your move – how will you respond to the evidence? Will you stay at your current level of devotion or is it time to step it up?

1 John 4:19-21

One of our greatest blessings is having a God who is always the first to love us, even before we love Him. We don’t have to do things to deserve it first like it seems like we do in so many other of our relationships. When you were a kid, did it feel like you had to earn love from your parents are family? Do you feel like you have to win people’s approval even today before being loved and appreciated by them? That’s not how it works with God.

Twice in 1 John we are reminded that God loved us first, before we deserved it. 1 John 4:19 says, Joyn 4:19. And then up at verse 10 John says, John 4:10. The reason we love God, the Bible says, is because He loved us first. Why do you love God? Well, because He loved you first. He blessed you, and cared for you, and was patient and forgiving and kind to you, and taught you, And after a while that made an impact on your heart, and you began warming towards God and that grew into a love for Him. We love Him because He first loved us. Now this morning I’d like to take that teaching and apply it to our relationships with other people. We need to learn to be the first to love the people around us so that we can open their hearts to us and to God. I remember times when Laura and I were having problems and at kind of an impasse in our relationship, and we couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. And it seemed like she tended to be the one to make the first move towards reconciliation. She would show kindness or love or forgiveness and reach out to me with the olive branch in some kind of way when I certainly wasn’t ready to do it, and it helped soften my heart so that we could move forward. I’m asking this morning to consider what your life would look like if you acted like God and were always the one to love people first.

Which is a hard thing to do because it’s not a fair system. Why do we always have to be the ones to forgive first or initiate kindness first? And what if we make ourselves vulnerable to them and they hurt or mistreat us back? What if we don’t make our kids earn it first and they grow up to become entitled brats? What if we apologize first to our spouses and they act like everything was our fault and they don’t apologize back? What if the person we’re trying to love is inconsiderate and selfish? Maybe if we knew people would treat us well back it would be easier to make the first move.

But why should we risk loving people first knowing it might not be reciprocated or when they’ve proven they don’t deserve it? Let me provide three reasons from scripture.

The first is that God said so. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. A new command I give you: love one another. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

In the context of marriage, Paul commands in Colossians 3, Colossians 3:18-19. And notice there are no conditions here. The passage doesn’t say, “As long as your wife isn’t horrible, as long as they’re being decent.

This passage in Titus commanding wives to love their husbands has always been interested to me because the word for love here is NOT agape, it’s philandros, meaning that she’s fond of her husband. Warm, friendly, romantic. Young women are to be taught to have warm feelings towards their husbands – so sometimes it takes work. Well what if he doesn’t deserve it? There’s nothing in the passage to indicate he has to do something first to receive this love from his wife. God’s people are the ones in the world who love first.

And we do it because God said for us to do it. And that should be good enough. It’s hard because it doesn’t feel fair to have to be the one initiating love all the time or loving people who don’t deserve it or haven’t earned it from us. But if you think about it, we didn’t deserve it either when God gave it to us, And we don’t deserve graciousness from each other, But there are no excuses when God says to do something.

But there are two other reasons I know of why we should be first-lovers. Number two, because it benefits us.

Loving one another is transformative for us. 1 John 4:12.

I can think of a brother right now in our congregation who I think I’ve seen God’s love nearly completed in him, the way the works with and talks about some of you. But maybe the best example of how someone loving others made God’s love complete in him was Ken Kelly. He died of cancer a few years ago. But back when Laura and I were newlyweds, he and his wife cared for us like we were their own kids. And then in the early 2000s she was killed by a drunk driver, an off-duty cop no less. A few weeks after she died, Ken went to the prison to visit his wife’s murderer. I’m sure a lot of people were wondering what he was up to, but all he did that day was love her, just like we’ve been talking about. He talked to her. Forgave her. Taught her. And guess what? She ended up becoming a Christian.

That’s love perfected in Mr. Kelly. That’s God living in him. We don’t love just for other people’s sake but for ours as well – it’s a tool for personal transformation.

I believe that’s what 1 John means when it talks about old things inside of us becoming new. Practicing the word changes us. Loving others changes us. John 2:7-10. The darkness passes away inside of us and the true light shines when we practice the old command of loving our brother.

We love others first because it helps US.

And then finally, we love first because it WORKS!

It worked on us, 1 John 4:19.

And I think we all agree with Paul when he says, 1 Corinthians 15:10. If it weren’t for God loving me back when I didn’t love Him I wouldn’t ever have come around. He’s so kind to us and patient with us. And every once in a while something happens that makes me realize God is still there blessing us so much more than we deserve. What He’s done for us as a congregation has exceeded expectations and given us everything we need to glorify Him and show this community the importance of Bible authority and doing all things according to the pattern of the New Testament. First love works – it softened our hearts.

And it will work on the people we practice it on. Why are we making the first move, and being loving and kind to people when they wouldn’t dare do it for us? Because we know first-love is transformative. Love is how we’re going to change them because it worked for us, and if it soften ed our heart, it will theirs too.

We love because He first loved us. Now let’s love our wives and husbands and children and families and friends and communities so that they will in turn love like they should. If you are ready to respond to the love of God in baptism or repentance, come forward now.

Good morning, please turn to Mark chapter 8. During the time when it would seem like the apostles’ faith was the strongest, after they had seen so many miracles, and heard wondrous words from Jesus, towards the end of His ministry, they struggled so badly and they were so confused. And I want to ask that you think with me this morning about why that was the case for them, and what their faith struggles can teach us about our own lack of spiritual growth.

Mark chapters 8 and 9 covers the period of time between Jesus feeding the 4,000 and His final trip to Jerusalem to die. Here’s an overview of that period which we’re looking at today. Before this section, Jesus had just fed the 5,000 and walked on water and performed these great miracles. And then you can see that the Lord leaves for the cross there in chapter ten, So we’re looking at a picture of their faith right towards the end.

And chapter 8 begins with the miracle of the feeding of the 4,000. At the beginning of this chapter we’re told that people had come from great distances to listen to Jesus preach out in a desolate place, and He was worried about them going home hungry. Mark 8:2-4. Where might they find enough food out there? They had already seen Jesus feed more people than this, it’s amazing they would ask this question. So for a second time the disciples witness this great miracle, and they wade into a boat with Jesus in verse ten and cross the sea. And when they get to the other side the 12 have a conversation concerned that Jesus was upset at them because they didn’t bring any bread. Mark 8:14-17. Would you have been worried about bread by that point? I wish I could just ask them while they were on that boat having this discussion. Why are you worried about bread? Don’t you think Jesus could make bread out of nothing, out of the oars and the nets if he wanted to? They even had a loaf with them that could be multiplied. Do they not understand what Jesus could do yet? Or did they think those miracles were a fluke or something? I don’t think the apostles were very good about putting the responsibility of their care in the Lord’s hands, do you? What about you? How good are you and relaxing and letting God make sure you’re cared for versus worrying about something you forgot? And while they’re worried about bread, the Lord is trying to get them focused on a very different problem, the leaven of the Pharisees, something that actually is concerning. I wonder how often the Lord and I are missing each other like this.

Here’s what they had just seen leading up to this incident: They saw Jesus feed 5,000 people in chapter 6, and then they saw Him walk on water, and then He healed a demon-possessed daughter and a man who was both deaf and mute. And now they’re wondering where Jesus was going to get bread to feed the 4,000.

So for a second time they witness this great miracle, and they leave with Jesus on a boat across the sea in verse 10. And when they get to the other side Jesus warns them about the leaven of the Pharisees, And the disciples take that to mean Jesus is mad at them because they forgot to bring enough bread. Mark 8:14-17. Do you think you would you have been worried about bread by that point? I wish I could just go back there and ask them, “How could you be worried about that?” Don’t you think Jesus could make bread out of nothing? He could make the oars and the nets edible if he wanted to. And they even had a loaf with them that could be multiplied. What are they thinking? Did they think all those miracles were just luck or a fluke or something? I don’t think the apostles were very comfortable entrusting themselves to the Lord’s care. Like they’re young, strong men who can take care of themselves, and they need to be responsible and it’s their job to take care of Jesus and guard Him and protect Him. They can’t just sit back and believe that everything’s going to be OK because Jesus is here with us. What about you? How good are you and relaxing and letting God make sure you’re cared for versus worrying about all the things you forgot? Who’s taking care of who in your relationship with God? And while they’re worrying about bread, the Lord is trying to get them to see a very different problem, the leaven of the Pharisees, something that actually is concerning. I wonder how often the Lord and I are missing each other like this.

And now down in verse 22 Jesus and the 12 reach Bethsaida and get out of the boat, and some people there bring Him a blind man to heal. And Jesus heals this mean in a weird way. 8:23-25. It’s always been difficult for me to understand why Jesus healed Him like this when of course He could have simplified it. He’s God, He can fully heal someone with a thought if He wants. The scripture doesn’t say why, but it does fit a problem we’re seeing with the apostles. They’re kind of healed spiritually. They kind of see, but their vision remains cloudy, as Jesus said in 8:17-18. Mark 8:17-18. So maybe this is more than a miracle, maybe it’s a lesson too.

And then here in this moment, as we’re all reading this and struggling to understand the blindness of the apostles, Peter blows us away with the greatest confession of faith that’s you’ll find in the Bible from anybody. Mark 8:27-30. So finally, at least Peter’s starting to get it, right? And the Lord seems so happy by this confession – Matthew records Him saying, “Blessed are you Simon” in Matthew 16. So maybe those apostles aren’t so blind. Except the very next thing we read is Peter taking Jesus aside to rebuke Him. Mark 8:31-33. And so again I’m confused. How can you just say He’s the Son of God and then rebuke Him? Jesus, I know you’re God and everything, but let me give you some advice. That must have been hurtful to the Lord. And so this is when Jesus gathers the disciples and the crowds together to talk to them about commitment. (Sigh) – Hey, everyone, come here for a minute, let me explain something to you. Mark 8:34. And I think this explains a lot about what is the problem the apostles are having. They have an idea about how things should go with Jesus, and it’s not going that way. This is not what we expected, this does not make sense, I’m confused all the time. And what we could do at those times in our faith is go to God and pray to Him about how we want it to go instead. We can try to get God to conform to us and our expectations. Or we can deny ourselves and follow Him to Jerusalem to our death with Him. Are you trying to get God to do things the right way, like the apostles were? Lord, as long as you come through for us and meet our expectations then we’ll follow you. If we do that, then our lives are going to look at confusing at the apostles’. I wonder how much our lives make sense to the angels that watch us (they’re interested, 1 Peter 1:12) Faith doesn’t have expectations, it just follows. We don’t get a lot of what God is doing but we know He’s leading us somewhere great.

A few days later, the Lord takes some of them out backpacking into the wilderness because there was something they needed to understand. Mark 9:2-7 How do you imagine this scene in your mind? Can you see Jesus turning into light? And where did Moses and Elijah come from? And what did the voice from heaven sound like? How much would it have helped your faith to see that? Well it didn’t seem to help them because they continued to struggle even after Jesus turning into a ball of light and standing above Moses and Elijah and hearing God praising Him from heaven.

I see the apostles being shown these powerful miracles and indications of the nature of Jesus – the feeding of the 5,000 and then the 4,000, the healing of the blind man, and the transfiguration, and still struggling with their faith. They continue to worry about bread, unable to entrust themselves to the care of the Lord. They confess to Him being the Christ, but still offer Him advice. And they can’t seem to understand the concept of total surrender.

And we’ll conclude with one final story right at the end of this passage. About a father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and the apostles in Mark 9. He wants to believe in Jesus but He needs to see first whether or not the Lord could pull off the miracle. But there’s a part of him that realizes Jesus doesn’t need to prove anything – He’s the one who needs to change. “Lord, it’s not you, it’s me. Please help my faith.” “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief,” verse 24. The beauty of that statement is that it has no conditions for God and no demands. We’re not asking God to change circumstances or do anything differently. It’s just an appeal for help that we can be different. I appreciate that God has shown us how much the apostles struggled with their faith so that I know I’m not alone.

Can you relate to their expectations of Jesus and their confusion? Are you ready to trust God to lead you without fully understanding what He’s doing? Just believing that whatever it is will be great? Acts 22:16.

Good morning. If we are God’s children, and the city set on a hill illuminating the way to the Lord, Here in this valley in Western Colorado, Then the devil’s going to be after us with every dart he can spare, And we’re going to be struggling against his sins and temptations. And when we’re struggling against sin, one thing we can do is pray to God for help to fight it. Which is the message of Psalm 141 – how to seek help from God when temptations are too strong for us. Please turn there and read it through with me. Psalm 141.

Here’s the three lessons I’d like to present from Psalm 141 about getting help from our temptations. (Read)

So number one, it’s an urgent matter for God to help us with our temptation. And David knew that. In verses one and two, David pleads for God to come quickly, and then beginning in verse three we see what was the urgent help David needed. Psalm 141:1 And then in verse 2 David asks that his prayers be counted by God as incense or the evening sacrifice. Which tells me those two things were really important to God, if that’s how David wants God to view his prayers. Incense in the Old Testament was a special kind of sacrifice that only the Priests could make. Exodus 30:7-8 says that it was offered up to God every morning and evening of every day. And I wondered why David specified the evening sacrifice to compare his prayer to since there was also a morning sacrifice. And the best I could find is that the morning sacrifice was like asking God, “Help us to have a blessed day,” and the evening sacrifice was more like, “Forgive us for our wrongs today so that we can go to bed right with you.” David’s prayer here is pleading for God to help him with sin, so maybe it was more like the evening offering to him. And so David is pleading with God to take his prayer as a serious matter and come to him quickly to help. And so what is the help that he’s so urgently needing?

Psalm 141:3-4 This is a little funny to me as I imagine this, Because I picture David calling to the Father like it’s an emergency, “Hurry, get here quick!” “It’s urgent, get here right now!” And so the Lord rushes over, “What is it David, what do you need so urgently?” “Can you help me to not sin?” That’s your emergency? That’s your job, not mine! No, that’s not how God is going to respond. And it is an urgent matter to the Lord to come help us with temptation, and we should be glad about that. When you’re tempted, don’t imagine God looking down at you with shame, or disapproval, like He’s about to write you off if you can’t get it under control. No, “Hold on, I’m coming! I can help! Everybody move out of the way!” Next time you’re feeling like sinning, remember that to God that is a need that merits His urgent attention.

And the second lesson is that God will help us and take responsibility for certain of our temptations. So which ones?

Which temptations will God help with? The ones that fall on us to deal with are the ones we decide to deal with on our own. The ones that He’ll help with are the ones that we seek His help for. Maybe we need help with our mouths – God will provide it. Does anyone here need help with their mouths? I don’t have problems with cussing like some do, but I’m no better – I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve said something foolish or hurtful. Not necessarily on purpose, just carelessly. Careless words stab like a sword, Proverbs 12:18. We’ll give an accounting for every careless word we speak, Matthew 12:36. Lord, please guard my mouth, keep watch over my lips, and thank you that you’re willing to help me with my own foolishness and problem. And how does God do that in the real world? What does He do to prevent me from saying dumb things? Well, I don’t know exactly. I know He gives us wisdom from the Bible that we can read that will help us be less foolish in our words. I know to Christians the Holy Spirit is somehow dwelling in us and producing fruit in us as Galatians 5 teaches. Here in this Psalm it looks like sometimes He helps by sending someone to whack us upside the head, in verse 5. I just know that if we want help from our temptations, God’s just waiting for us to ask and He’ll come like it was a 911 call and provide it. What if the problem is with our own heart – that’s not up to us to fix? We have such a good God, who will even help when we have problems with the most fundamental things. Struggling with faith? “Lord increase our faith! Help my unbelief!” Struggling with having a true heart? Lord, do not let me heart incline to evil. Thank you Lord that you will even help us when we have a heart inclined to evil, if we ask you for it. And this last part’s interesting – don’t let me eat of the delicacies of the wicked. One thing that lures us into wickedness is when wicked people offer us from their enjoyable things – don’t take the bait. But I also thought, wouldn’t the same thing happen if we partake of God’s delicacies? Won’t we be lured into His righteousness? In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors. I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, 47 for I find my delight in your commandments, The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

So lesson number two is that God will help us with our temptations but we need to ask. And then finally lesson number three is that there is a right way to ask for God’s help.

Part of asking the right way is being prepared to accept whatever kind of help He provides. I’ve heard people say that when we pray for patience God will make sure we hit every red light so that we’ll learn it. And I relate to that comment. So what if we pray for help with our mouths and God sends somebody out to strike us in the face? What David is saying to God is, “Lord, I need help, and I’m asking you to please help, and whatever way you do it I’ll accept.” I’m not too proud to be rebuked. Have you ever been rebuked by the last person on earth who should be rebuking you? That’s OK, thank you Lord, I needed that, it is a blessing and a kindness because I was stuck in this temptation. When we ask for God’s help, we are asking Him to help as HE sees fit. And when we ask, we want to express that however He helps we will not get mad or bitter about it. At the end of verse 5, David says that even after getting slapped and then rebuked, He’s still going to be on God’s side about things. 141:5b.

Read. Lord, yes, I’m tempted to join them, but I still know they’re the enemy and you’re righteous, and despite my temptation I will ultimately act in opposition to them. And in the end they’ll recognize whose side I’m on. The end of verse 6 seems like a funny description of David’s words, since he just talked about throwing judges off of a cliff, and then he scattered their bones. The NIV translates “well-spoken” instead which seems to fit better – in the end they’ll know I was serious. Let’s pray that, despite the temptations of our hearts and mouths, the enemies of God know whose side we’re on. No matter what God does to us, we will remain thankful for Him and pray against His enemies.

141:8a. And the last part of asking God for help properly is understanding what’s at stake. The NIV says, “Do not give me over to death.” Now it may just be that David is worried about His enemies trying to kill him, and he’s asking God for protection from them at the end of this Psalm. However, his prayer up to this point has been to protect him from the temptation of the evildoers, and from participating with them in their evil deeds and being drawn in by their delicacies. That’s the danger David has been seeing from them, And it is true that if we concede to our temptations that the wages of sin is death. And my point is that if we want God’s help with our temptations, we need to pray to Him with a desperation that is based on an understanding of what’s at stake. If the evil ones capture us, we’re in eternal trouble.

And so we need to pray to God urgently about our temptations, And not try to handle them ourselves because we’re embarrassed about them or because we have a false idea that God is to ashamed of us to help, And when we ask for help, we need to ask him properly – with an attitude that however He provides help, even if it’s unpleasant, we will be grateful. Thank you.

Jesus says in Luke 16:16, Luke 16:16. My favorite thing about Bible study is finding a passage that presents a mystery to solve. For example, I know there’s some wonderful truth in this passage because that’s the nature of God’s Word. It’s a joy to dig into, and there’s treasure if we’re willing to do the work and dig into it. Ken and I were studying a week or so ago, and he referenced this passage, and I thought, “I’ve never been really sure what it means about people forcing their way into the Kingdom,” and so I’ve been digging into it to try to figure it out and want to explore it with you this morning.

So open your Bibles to Luke 16, and take a look at the passage with me. And notice first of all that Jesus speaks these words immediately after His parable of the unrighteous steward, who was a man who knew he was about to lose his job, so he used his influence running his wealthy master’s business to give big discounts to people hoping they’d be grateful enough to him after he was fired to take him in. Luke 16:1-8. And the moral of the parable is in verse 9. Luke 16:9. Use what we can to seek the favor of the people who can bring us into God’s Kingdom. The Pharisees, Luke says, were not impressed by this parable, and this verse about taking the Kingdom by force is actually directed towards them. So read with me from verse 14 to verse 18. So there’s a wonderful lesson here about how we can get into the Kingdom of heaven, but it’s going to take a little work to dig it out.

So what I try to do to figure out a passage like this from scripture is to take a step back and put it into its larger context, And I think we can go back at least to chapter 12 to see that Luke wants us to see lessons about the Kingdom of Heaven throughout this section. Chapter 12 is a message about being watchful so that we don’t miss it, and we won’t hardly see it at first but then it explodes into its greatness. And then chapter 13 tells us the ones who get in are the ones who seek it and strive to get in. And then it’s the humble and needy who are welcomed into the great feasts of God in chapter 14, And in chapter 15 we learn how desperately God wants the lost to be saved, and that He wants us to care about them just as much. Which leads us to the parable of the unjust steward in chapter 16 encouraging us to seek the mercy of the people who can receive us into the eternal dwellings. Be ready, don’t miss your chance, seek it, strive to enter into it, make yourself humble, associate with the needy, root for the lost, use your resources to seek mercy from the right people.

It’s that backdrop framing Jesus’ message that we’re trying to understand this morning, And the Pharisees didn’t want any part of the kind of Kingdom that Jesus describes or of the kind of people who would be in it. And when He finished His parable of the unrighteous steward about throwing ourselves on the mercy of others to gain access, they couldn’t take anymore. What did the Pharisees hate so much about that parable? Luke gives two reasons in verses 14 and 15. First, the Pharisees loved money. Money was not a thing that we spend to gain other people’s favor – it’s something we acquire for ourselves. And then second, the Pharisees justify themselves before men. When you get in trouble, do you prefer to talk your way out of it and justify your actions and convince them you’re right, Or do you get scared and seek a way out of your problem? To the Pharisees it was as sickening to see a person stoop to begging favor from somebody as their self-righteousness was to God.

If we’re going to find the Kingdom of God, we need to feel that urgency to get the favor of God and His people. And it’s surprising how often the scriptures teach that God’s going to listen to the input of His people. Matthew 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[f] you did it to me.’ Revelation 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Luke 14:12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” The voice of these people will be a witness for or against us someday. The next parable, as a matter of fact, that Jesus gives here in Luke 16 is the rich man and Lazarus, which tells the story of a rich man who stepped over a beggar day after day and found himself in hell – don’t underestimate the voices of the needy. Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. So are we going to try and convince God and men that we’re really good people, or are we going to plead with them to accept us? Ken has been teaching the book of Nehemiah Wednesday nights, and his prayers throughout the book reflect how important it is to gain the favor of God and His people: 19 Remember me with favor, my God, for all I have done for these people.14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me.14 Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love. Nehemiah 13:29 29 Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites. Entering the Kingdom is a pleading.

We can’t force our way in. It’s a confusing passage, but I think we can understand it as we’re putting it into this greater context. Jesus is criticizing the Pharisees – they may exalt themselves but God knows their hearts. And ever since John, Jesus says, people are forcing their way into the Kingdom. News got out about it, and everyone wants to be in it, which is great, and so it’s like a stampede. Jesus said in Matthew 11:12 that violent men are taking it by force. That’s not good. Notice here that Jesus wraps the Kingdom around with the Law of God – here in verse 16 and then down in verse 17. The key to getting into the Kingdom is honoring the Law of God – you can’t ignore it. The Law and the Prophets stood until the Kingdom began being preached, and they’re the sentinels guarding its entrance even now, and it’s unbreakable. In other words, to get into God’s Kingdom we have to do things God’s way. Trying to force our way into the Kingdom is us relying on our own strength and power to get in there, which is what the Pharisees preferred because they couldn’t stand humility. It’s going to take some humility and conformity for us to get in.

And this last verse is just another illustration of the struggle that Bible study requires. Why is this here? Luke 16:18. We can’t just assume it’s randomly tossed in there – that’s lazy. It’s part of the bigger message, and it might mean one of two things. It could be an example of a law that the Pharisees just toss aside because they don’t like it as they try to make the Kingdom of God conform to them. They liked that scripture about as much as we like it today – it’s so strict! You can read Matthew 19 to learn more about Jewish disobedience in this regard. Or I’ve thought Jesus could be illustrating how the Pharisees treat their God – tossing him aside for their own lusts.

I have more digging to do before I feel comfortable with my understanding of that last verse. The Pharisees seek to take God’s kingdom by force, with their own power and worth and strength. But that will never work. What does work is hoping that God and those who have His ear approve of us because of our humble and desperate efforts to gain their favor. If you seek entrance, the scriptures say where to begin: Acts 2:38.

We’ve come to the last lesson in our Revelation study, chapters 17-22. And this is one of those sections that we could easily spend weeks on, so I hope you’ll keep in mind that these lessons are about getting the main idea, rather than taking an in-depth look. What I want you to see from the book of Revelation is that someone was hurting God’s people, persecuting them and killing them.

So the Lord is showing them that He remembered them. He had already put together a plan to deal with the enemy, and wrote it in a scroll and gave it to Jesus to fulfill.

The scroll is opened one seal at a time, That seventh seal revealed the angels with the 7 trumpets of doom against the enemy of God’s people. And the seventh trumpet revealed the angels with the 7 bowls of wrath, that are then poured out on God’s enemy.

We found out in chapter 12 that the enemy of God’s people is a puppet of Satan’s, who is represented in the book of Revelation as a 7-headed dragon,

And that his puppet is the nation of Rome, also described as having 7 heads with 10 horns, and the earth is required to worship Rome or suffer persecution.

That’s who God’s attacking in this story, pouring out plagues against them in every aspect of their lives, land, sea, air, rivers, wars, their souls, that beast is going down for hurting His people.

When the 7th bowl of wrath is poured out in chapter 16, verse 17, Rome’s great city gets obliterated. So let’s take a closer look at what Revelation has to say about that city in chapter 17.

Read Revelation 17:1-6 with me. So how is this city described? As the harlot for the great kings of the earth. Blasphemous and immoral, murderer of Christians and of the witnesses of Christ.

The end of chapter 17 is a little bit cryptic, but the scripture is hinting at what city of the world is specifically being spoken of. Now remember that in previous chapters you have a lot of figurative language that’s kind of vague, like the hail and fire that destroys a third of the grass and trees: burning mountain thrown into sea destroying a third of the sea. And I said the best approach is to not make too much out of those images. God’s just saying that He’s attacking Rome’s world all around them. You make God mad, He attacks the land, sea and sky around you. Because so many people imagine so many things into those images that there’s a thousand crazy ideas about what they mean. Keep it simple, and just get the gist of it. But now what I’m going to tell you in chapter 17 is that the rules change a little bit. Because this time the angel tells us, “I mean something specific with these images and I want you to understand them.”

This woman, the angel says: Rides on the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns. That’s Rome. The seven heads are seven mountains.

Did you know Rome is the city of 7 hills?

And the seven heads also represent 7 Kings. When John wrote Revelation, Vespasian was Caesar. Five Kings of Rome had already passed. The next one coming was a guy named Titus. He’s number 7. And then the eighth, which John talks about in verse 11, is going to be a really bad one, and the book of Daniel goes into more detail as well about all of the Caesars. But all of this information is designed to hint to the Christians about who’s on God’s hit list. It’s Rome. And they are going down. There’s some other Kings mentioned here who will raise up within Rome and cause internal strife and fight against the harlot, this great city, Because God put it in their hearts to do so (17:17). But what you need to know is that this city is the one who reigned over the Kings of the earth back in the day, verse 18. Rome.

And her fall was devastating to the entire world, as you can read about in chapter 18. Revelation 18:9-19. Why is everyone so upset? Because she made everybody rich, and she’s gone! How much would it affect the world if the United States gets destroyed? We buy a lot of things, we make a lot of things. Everyone gets affected when a superpower is destroyed.

So the 7th bowl of wrath brought an end to the great city of Rome. And just one other side note, I’m not sure the Bible is referring to some specific date when Rome met its end. I believe 476 AD is typically the date that most people say “Rome fell,” but a lot happened before that leading to her demise. She fell and it was caused by God, that’s what we know for sure. Now chapter 19 is the great celebration of the good guys who brought down Rome. There’s a huge party in heaven, Revelation 19:1-2. And Jesus makes an appearance. He comes out and greets His bride, the church, and there’s this image of a wedding scene. Revelation 19:7-9. And you might think, “OK, this must be the end of the world, then, and judgement day has come where Jesus and His people will be joined together for eternity.” But we’re not there yet. Because in chapter 20 Satan’s going to get busy and go out and tempt the world again. Chapter 19 is only about the happy ending of the destruction of Rome, the enemy of God’s people. And Jesus is the one behind the final blow that ends their power, as you can see beginning in verse 11. He gets on His white horse and leads His army into battle against the beast and the false prophet and Satan, and as you can imagine it’s not much of a battle. Look at verse 17. Revelation 19:17-21. So what happened in the battle? Obliteration. It was a joke of an effort from Rome.

The beast is destroyed, and his sidekick who’s trying to get everyone to worship the beast is defeated, And Satan is taken captive, which you can read about in chapter 20. Now chapter 20 is that chapter that gives everyone fits. It’s the one that talks about Satan being bound, and the thousand year reign of Christ, and then Satan being released again for a short time to terrorize us once again. But here’s the message of chapter 20, as simply as I can make it. Satan tried to use Rome to defeat God’s people and lost. Like utterly, totally failed. And he was punished for it. So he licks his wounds for a moment, But now he’s back out trying again. Except this time he’s going bigger. Forget Rome, this time he’s going to the four corners of the earth . . . Revelation 20:8. And his army’s bigger and he’s fighting harder. But don’t get bothered over all this figurative language about the devil being bound for a thousand years. He’s out right now trying again. He got tossed into the pit, and the people he was trampling were anointed Kings and Queens. In other words, they won and he lost. Just think through this chapter with me for a few minutes. 20:1-2. When did this happen? When Rome was defeated. 20:4-5. When did these saints come back to life? When Rome was defeated. Did they literally come back to life? No! It’s a figure explaining how they won.

OK, now at some point Satan gets back out again. So when did that happen? Well, whenever he started deceiving the nations again, Revelation 20:7. Well he’s already doing that. Don’t take the thousand years literally. He got out and back to work. The thousand years isn’t a literal measure of time, it’s just explaining to us how badly he lost. He’s out. And when he gets out, verse 5 says that his people get resurrected, which I think just means that evil doesn’t stay dead for long. They lose crushing blows but they keep trying again to hurt God and His people. 20:5. So what does Satan do when he gets out? He tries again, only with more allies and bigger armies this time. 20:7-8. So how do you think it’s going to end for him the next time? 20:9. Why does he even try?

So since in verse 10 Satan has lost for good, and he’s being tormented forever and ever, I believe we’ve come to the final judgement now in the book. So let’s recap quickly: Chapters 1-19 cover the period from the beginning of the church to the destruction of Rome. Chapter 20 verses 1-6 is the victory of the saints over the devil and Rome. And then chapter 20 verses 7-9 is Satan’s work from after he lost that fight until the end of time. History is currently here. 2017 is happening in verses 7-9, until Satan loses one final time. Then comes the final judgement. Satan is destroyed. All of the dead are then judged: 20:11-15.

And finally, heaven and earth are reunited. 21:1-3. So think about what this means for a moment. There’s no more sea. Do you remember the sea? It separated us from God in chapter 4. Then the people of God were standing on it though it was glowing red with fire in chapter 15 verse 2, halfway to God. And now finally there’s no more sea. The sea in Revelation is like the curtain of the temple in the Old Testament. Once it’s gone we now have total access to the Lord. And this city coming down out of heaven is described as a bride adorned for her husband. So what’s that? Well, that’s us! The church is the bride of Christ 21:3-7. In verse 9, the angel describes what we’ll look like in the final day. 21:9 And then you’ll notice that a city is described with streets of gold, a 1500 mile cube, 12 pearly gates. What’s all that describing? It’s us! We’re the city of God. And He will dwell in us. 21:22-22:5.

So let’s put all of this in context. What does all of this mean to a group of churches in Asia back in the first century, who are seeing the apostles die off, and are having a hard time with persecution at the hands of their own country? This is the message of the book of Revelation: The Lord has been with them the whole time, and God has already heard their cries and is taking care of it. Their enemies are going to be destroyed, and the enemies of their ancestors in the faith will be as well, and someday they’ll be up here on thrones while their enemies are down in a pit begging for mercy. And someday they’ll be reunited with their God for good in the most beautiful, peaceful way you could imagine. But there’s also a warning or an exhortation mixed into this message for them, and we need to heed its message as well. Revelation 2:5, 16, 26, 3:5, 11-12, 19. 1:3 21:7-8 22:7, 11-20. There’s no time to wait. If you want to be a part of the blessings of this book, you need to act today. Repent and be baptized.

Good morning. I said last men’s meeting that I was thinking about doing a lesson on attendance because I felt it was needed, And so I already feel the need to ask your forgiveness and indulgence before I begin because I know what brethren think of attendance sermons. But I also told the men that the problem I see here is different from places I’ve worshiped in the past. Because I’ve always considered attendance to be a symptom of faith weakness – if someone is missing a lot of church services, I’m worried that person is drifting away from the faith – at least that has been my experience. But my concern is not the same here – here I see saints who love God and are not at all interested in abandoning Him. So if that’s the case, why would we have attendance issues here amongst brethren who love the Lord? And there can be only one answer – it’s a priority issue. Anytime we’re not here, we’re prioritizing. I’m sick – should I go worship with the brethren? Probably not the right thing to do. Laura is home right now with a sick kid, which seems to happen a lot in our family. There are work-related reasons, family-related reasons, lots of things that weigh on our decision whether or not to meet with the saints at the appointed times. I think some miss out of conviction – do we really need to be meeting three times on Sunday and once Wednesday? Where’s the scripture for that? I can’t get into all these topics this morning, and so maybe some other conversations would be helpful another time. What I want to do this morning is set before you a reminder of the priority the church needs to be for all of us, and that its meetings and activities should trump most things in our lives and be central to everything we do.

And where we need to begin is a reminder of what the church is. Because I think even brethren can be guilty of seeing the men behind the church and not the God behind it. We don’t want to be fully invested in an institution that is divisive, that’s weak and full of foolishness and falsehood and selfish ambition and sin. But if that’s what we see in His church then we’re not looking deep enough. The church is God’s. It’s a dream He had long ago, and He poured Himself into developing it. Do you remember when Jesus explained the purpose of parables by saying, Matthew 13:35. Things hidden since the foundation of the world. What things? Verse 24 – The kingdom of heaven is like. Verse 31 – The kingdom of heaven is like. Verse 33 – The kingdom of heaven is like. Verse 44, verse 45, verse 47, The kingdom of heaven is like. The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven – the secrets that have been hidden since the foundation of the world – are given to you, not to them (verse 11). So the entity the Bible calls the Kingdom, the church, the bride, the body, the temple, is the big secret of God’s that He shares with us, and is the point of all this, all Creation, And one day, Hebrews 12:26 warns, the earth and heavens will be shaken and removed, and the one thing that cannot be shaken, the Kingdom of God, will remain. We need to see the Church as the fulfillment of God’s dream, And all it isis wonderful – the best of His creation, the kings and queens of mankind, living stones fashioned into the Temple of God, led by a fierce King and redeemer who found a people worth saving.

Isaiah 60

So now my privilege is that I get to associate with the people of that Kingdom, Who are the culmination of a dream that the God of the universe dreamed before there was a universe and forged a plan and a path until here you are sitting before me today. So why should our association together be such a great priority? And here is where I could talk about all of the commandments that are in scripture, like Hebrews 10:24-25, showing our responsibility to be here, Or I could talk about all of the planning and effort the Lord put into developing local churches in every city throughout the world – The apostles traveling everywhere teaching and converting and establishing them into local churches, and then giving them the patterns to follow, and establishing elders – why are they so important to Him? But I think the most important thing I could say about moving church up on our priority list is: We need it. What God’s asking me to do is more than I can do on my own. I’m trying to reinvent myself into something that belongs in the Kingdom of God, and I need you if I’m going to do that. And the first Christians understood that – they were always together. They met everyday in the temple together and ate their meals together daily in their homes, And their churches didn’t just meet once on Sundays, by the way. They had special meetings like we see in Acts 15 to figure out circumcision, or when Paul came to Berea, or in Troas, or when Paul met in the school or Tyrannus daily. We should be here because we need each other, and it would mean more if you were here. Maybe we should have a conversation about worship times and how often we meet, but there’s no question it means more when you’re here, and I think you know that.

I’ve always loved the message of Ephesians 4 about our need for one another. That there’s one body, But to each one there’s been given these graces, these gifts to provide to the body of Christ, so that all of us have something to bring. So it’s the joints that cause the growth of the body and its building up. And what’s a joint? A preacher pointed this out in a sermon years ago that I’ll never forget. A joint is where two parts of a body meet. It’s at the intersection of brethren where the growth happens.

We need each other. Look around you and be impressed where you are, who you are among. This is the culmination of a vision God had ages ago, and we have lived to see the age of the Kingdom of God. And these happen to be the people you need right now to achieve the measure of the stature that belongs to the fulness of Christ. And they need you to be present. I’m asking this morning that you reconsider what are the priorities when choosing something else above your presence here with this church – Is it really something or somewhere more important than meeting with the people of God.

Galatians 6:14-16 says . . . When God created a nation for Himself, He got to pick its name, and He chose Israel. It’s a joy to choose the name of your child, and we usually want it to mean something special. Our oldest was named after Laura’s father who died of cancer when we first met. And we avoided names we didn’t want associated with our kids – so Adolf or Jezebel were absolute no’s. So of course the name Israel was well-thought out by our Father for His children. Why? It’s not a name that means beloved, or righteousness or faithful. It’s more interesting than that. Israel means “wrestlers.”

Why did you want your people known as the wrestlers? Is it because He wants us fighting and striving? That would make sense given the difficulty of living in this fallen world. 1 Corinthians 9:24 does command us to be competitors. 1 Corinthians 9:24.

Except wrestling is only half the meaning of the name. Israelite means someone who wrestles withGod. It’s the name that God originally gave to the Patriarch Jacob, after he wrestled with the angel you might remember. Hosea reminds us in chapter 12.

Hosea 12:3-5. So Jacob contended with God and prevailed, and the name was born, and God felt it a suitable name for not just Israel but even for us today, who are the Israel of God. So why Israel?

Let’s go back and take a look at one of my favorite Bible characters to find out. I don’t love Jacob because he was a great guy all of his life, he wasn’t. I just love how loved he was by our God despite his failures, and how that love changed him. He’s first described to us as kind of a momma’s boy, staying home to cook and stay indoors while his brother Esau goes into the wilderness to hunt the food. It’s no wonder their father Isaac loved Esau more. And then we learn about him that whatever he wants he’s going to get. Do you remember the story of him wrestling the angel? Well that was after he had turned 90 years old. But Jacob was known as a wrestler long before that. The Bible says He wrestled with his twin brother Esau in the womb, Gen 25:22. He came out behind Esau grabbing his heel, so his mom named him “heel-grabber,” which is what Jacob means. Later, Jacob sought to wrestle away Esau’s birthright for himself (which meant he got 2x as much of an inheritance), which he does using a bowl of stew for bait. Genesis 25:27ff God actually condemns Esau later on in scripture for what happens here, not Jacob, which indicates God saw something positive in Jacob in this story despite his cruelty. And then later on you might recall that Jacob cheated Esau out of a blessing that was supposed to be given him by his father. Any of us would have loved to have gotten blessed by a godly patriarch back in that day with a blessing that certainly came from God – this was a big loss for Esau, and he cried terribly when he learned it was stolen from him. Genesis 27:30.

So what kind of person is Jacob throughout his life? A coveter, greedy, determined. I am drawn to Esau more than Jacob, he seems more likeable to me, but then I think there’s something more appealing to God about Jacob than Esau throughout scripture. So we need to figure out what it is. In Hebrews 12:15-17 God uses the birthright story to warn us not to be like Esau – not, “Don’t cheat people like Jacob did.” I n Romans 9:13 God is said to love Jacob and hate Esau, Rom 9:13. Why? What is there that’s good in Jacob? Maybe there’s some value to Jacob’s ambition. God doesn’t condemn ambition, only selfish ambition. Romans 2:7-8. Jacob is determined to have the good things, while Esau does not value good things. God is pleased that he valued the birthright and the blessing and is not pleased that Esau despised them. God is not pleased that Esau is willing to sell it for a bowl of soup. Is God pleased with the ambition that is in you? Do you value precious things like Jacob did? Or despise them like Esau.

God loved Jacob and pursued him. And it’s clear that Jacob was ungodly doing all of those things to Esau over the years – I don’t want you to think I’m praising a sinner. He was wrong to cheat his brother and he was a faithless man during that time. But I’m asking you to consider what God saw in Jacob during those years that he chose him over Esau. I had a friend back in California who reminded me of Jacob. He’d get it in his head that he wanted something, and then he would pursue it 100%. He decided to get into reptiles, and then suddenly his house was full of snakes and spiders, he probably had 20-30 of them. F or a while he got into music, and then motorcycles. For a short time it was God. We had some amazing Bible studies during that time in his life. What I see in Jacob is a man determined to find and attain the most valuable things. It just took him a while to figure out what those things were. But God saw Jacob’s value from the beginning even before his heart turned. In Genesis 28 Jacob is running away from Esau who wants to kill him for stealing all of his things. But my favorite thing in Jacob’s story is that while Jacob is running away from his consequences the Lord is pursuing Him. Genesis 28:10-15. I’m so thankful that God is pursuing those who are running from him because I need to know that God is still after some of my loved ones who haven’t found Him yet. So here is Jacob running from his own foolishness – and he has no thoughts of God at this point in his life, he’s not seeking God or truth at this point. I know this because he puts conditions on God for worshiping him beginning in verse 20 – if I get out of this OK, then I’ll serve you, God. Genesis 28:20-22. Does that sound like a man of faith to you? But God believed in him and wants him. It’s the same old Jacob after his meeting with God – we see him doing whatever it takes to win the woman of his dreams, we see him competing against his father-in-law like he did Esau. Except he’s starting to accept that he is blessed by the Lord and starts listening to him. Genesis 31:11-13 says, Genesis 31:11-13.

And now, into his 90s, when he had been gone from home for years and got married and had kids and finds himself a blessed man, Jacob decided it was time to go home and face the music his brother Esau. And here is one of the strangest stories in the Bible – on his way home Jacob wrestled with an angel. Genesis 32:24-29. God’s trying to tell us something here – what is it? Did you notice that the wrestling match is started not by Jacob but by God? It’s kind of funny - Jacob’s just minding his own business, praying and worrying about facing Esau again, and a guy comes up to him and just grabs him. I’m so thankful that while we’re doing our own thing God so often takes the initiative and pursues us and grabs us. But what Jacob does next is so Jacob. He fights back. And he tries to win. And then the angel cheats. He just touches Jacob’s hip and gives him some kind of debilitating incurable physical problem, 32:25. There’s no way he can win, right? That’s the message this angel just sent to him. Jacob, give up! But this is so Jacob – he fights. And he keeps fighting. And hours pass and he keeps fighting. Either he’s completely insane, or something made Jacob suspicious of the possibility that he could win a wrestling match against God! Maybe it’s because the angel just didn’t obliterate him the first second, even though he made if obvious he had the power. I’ve wrestled with my kids since they were tiny. And they always fought back with a big smile on their faces. Why? I could have just picked them up and threw them through a window. Why did they try to win? Because they know I love them and would never hurt them. I think Jacob’s starting to understand God. He knows God’s been pursuing him for a long time. He knows God wants him.

So he’s not going to fear this battle. He’s going to try to win. What we see in the life of Jacob is a progression from pursuing less important things until he realizes that the only thing really worth pursuing and winning is God. And he refuses to quit until he gets the blessing, How has the Lord challenged you in some way like He did Jacob? Trough testing and trials? Have you ever consider that God wants you to struggle back? Don’t just quit. Don’t just get beat down. Cry out to God like David, Psalm 6. Pray to him like that widow did to the unjust judge. Struggle with God’s word like the Eunuch did, this is frustrating, I don’t understand it! Fight to live right when it’s hard and not fair to endure such temptation, Romans 7:24.

Wrestle with the Lord, and He won’t turn you away. Wrestle for that blessing. We are Israel, and of all the names He could have chosen for His people, He chose wrestles with God, Galatians 6:14-16. Because He doesn’t want quitters. He wants people who are determined to gain the attention of their God, who understand that nothing else is worth pursuing. Is God worth it to you? It’s not an easy path to Him, but He comes to us, And when He does don’t let Him go and you will be blessed.

Some Bible passages we spend more time pointing out what the don’t mean than working out what they do. For example, there are scriptures that don’t tell the whole story of salvation that concern us how they’re used, like Romans 10:9-10 which says whoever confesses with his mouth Jesus as Lord and believes in his heart, they shall be saved. Or Ephesians 2:10 which says that by grace we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God. We tend to talk more about what those passages don’t mean than what they do. The same goes for John 10:34, and I admit I hadn’t looked very closely at what that passages does mean in the past because I have been more focused on knowing what it doesn’t mean. What god me thinking about this scripture was an interpretation of this passage by an atheist that I had read the other day which made me realize I need to study it better, and I was excited about what I found so I wanted to share it with you.

Let’s read it together starting in verse 22. John 10:22-39. So here is Jesus plainly telling the Jews that He is the Messiah and explaining that means that He came from the Father and that He and the Father are One. But the surprising thing about this passage, and the part that gives many Christians trouble, is Jesus referring to people as “gods,” and actually quoting an Old Testament passage where God is calling men gods. It’s a tough passage, and it’s one of those where instead of really trying to understand what it’s saying to us we spend our time trying to explain what it doesn’t say. We’re not comfortable with Jesus calling men gods. This passage is also misused by some religious groups as well, to teach that Jesus isn’t anymore “god” than we are. And so it’s common to spend time explaining why it doesn’t say what they’re reading into it. But my point is that there is an important message here that Jesus is trying to teach us, and we miss it if we’re not looking for what we need to see here.

So now turn with me to Psalm 82, which is the passage Jesus quotes from. This is a Psalm of Asaph, who wrote several Psalms. Verse 1 says, Psalm 82:1. OK, so who are these gods? Let’s keep reading.

Psalm 82:2-5. So these aren’t righteous gods. They’re unjust, they prefer the wicked, they oppress the week and the needy. And verse 5 seems to indicate that because of the ignorance and darkness of these gods, the whole world is negatively affected. Now continue reading beginning in verse 6.

Psalm 82:6-7. Alright, so these gods are mortal, and despite their status as gods they are going to be punished. They were entrusted with status in god’s council, they were given a great responsibility to judge, but they failed and because of their great failure the earth was shaken to its core.

Alright, so who are these so-called gods in Psalm 82? So far we know they were given status and responsibility and failed in their sinfulness and will be brought low.

And now we can go back to John chapter 10 and get Jesus’ interpretation of who they were. Look at verse 34. John 10:34-35. Did you notice who Jesus said were the gods? They are those to whom the word of God came. Who’s that? Well, it can only be one people. In Deuteronomy chapter 4, Moses reminded the Israelites what made them stand above every other nation. It wasn’t that they were given the land of Canaan as their inheritance - Moses said God did that for a lot of nations – He gave Edom a promised land, and Moab, the Ammonites, and the Caphtorites, and you can read about all of them in Deuteronomy chapter 2. But Israel was special among all nations because they were the people through whom the word of the Lord came to all the rest: Deuteronomy 4:5-8. That was such an honor and a privilege and a responsibility to be the people through whom God’s wisdom and knowledge would come to the world. Paul reminds the Jews how advantaged they were in this regard over in Romans chapter 3 when he says, Romans 3:1.

So through whom did the word of God come? Well the Israelites of course, and that was a special honor.

So what are the lessons from Psalm 82? The Jews would have known that scripture if they were Bible students, and would have understood what Jesus quoted to them about being gods. What are the lessons from this phrase, and what should we get from this passage beyond that we are not in fact truly gods? Let me share five lessons from John 10 and Psalm 82.

Number one, God’s people truly are sons of God, sitting in the council of God, carrying the responsibility of His Word and being a light to the nations. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? (1 Corinthians 6:2) You are a holy race, a royal priesthood. Our citizenship is in heaven. See what great love God has lavished upon us that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1) I think we need to focus more on what God meant when He said, “You are gods” than what He didn’t mean, because He’s expressing the status of His people right up there in His counsel.

Lesson number two - God’s people did not live up to that status. And those Jews listening to Jesus over in John chapter 10 should have known what Psalm 82 said, and they should have been rebuked by it when Jesus referred to it. “Didn’t the scripture call you gods? Didn’t the Word of God come through you? And didn’t God expect righteousness and spiritual leadership from you? And you dare criticize me in your great failure?” I imagine those Jews did know Psalm 82 and felt the sting of that rebuke. And we should too because we are not less responsible, and we the sons of the Most High will experience the same mortal fate as them if we do not practice justice and righteousness. I had a conversation with a sister the other day who condemned two ladies who had wronged her. And she was angry and wanted to sue them if they didn’t straighten up. And so I brought up the passage where God commands us to go to people who are at fault, and that made her really angry because they should be going to her – and she’s right but that doesn’t negate the responsibility God gave to her. We’re children of God, exalted in His council, a light to the nations, the world is shaken when we do not live up to that responsibility for whatever reason or excuse we give.

Number three - Jesus taught His Jewish doubters that the Scripture cannot be broken as He quoted the Old Testament. Why would He need to say that? Of course they already knew it and understood it. Except as teachers of the Law they ought to have seen Jesus in Old Testament scriptures on every page but they are denying that He’s the Messiah and Son of God. Psalm 82 isn’t just a passage calling the Jews gods, it’s also a passage reminding them of the stewardship God gave them to bring the Word to the world. And now Jesus uses it to remind them of their greatest failure – of darkening God’s truths with their unrighteousness. We also are ambassadors of what God’s Word says, not what we want it to say, and not to tell everyone what it doesn’t say, and we’d better also teach it honestly when it’s more restrictive than we want and when it’s too permissive for our tastes.

Number four lesson from this passage - Jesus is the true Son of God. One of the reasons Jesus is seen throughout the Old Testament is because so many Old Testament people and things represent Him. David is a type of Christ, Melchizedek is, the Passover Lamb, and the whole nation of Israel is a type of Christ. They were the people God chose to bring His Word to the world and usher in righteousness. They were God’s Firstborn Son, Exodus 4:22. And so one thing we need to see from John 10 and Psalm 82 is that Jesus and Israel are similar. And that’s because Israel is a type of Christ – God’s chosen Son responsible for bringing truth and righteousness into the world. But when Israel failed to do their job as God’s Son, God had to send His only Son from heaven to complete their mission and succeed in all the ways where they failed. It’s important to see from John chapter 10 that Israel failed as gods, and now Jesus the true Son of God having come down from heaven is here to displace them. Israel is the failed son while Jesus is the greater Son.

And then finally, lesson 5 - to believe in Jesus we must understand who we are. Jesus teaches in John chapter 10 that if God calls you gods, why is it so hard to believe that I, the Son of God come down from heaven, am God? And the implication is that if they could see who they truly are, then they could see who Jesus truly is. It’s hard to accept the exaltation of other people when we see ourselves as small and worthless. That’s when we become jealous and spiteful and envious of what other people have that should rightfully belong to us. But what if we ourselves are sons of God? What if we really are made in the image of God, and have access to His divine nature, and are fearfully and wonderfully made? Those are the sort of people who can accept that Jesus is the Son of God come down from heaven.

Do you know who you are? People who know are the ones who can see Jesus as the true Son of God. People who fail to see the divinity that is inside of themselves will never be able to accept Jesus as God’s Son. What do you see of yourself? If you see God’s hand in you, then the next step is to see how you have failed to live up to the status of a child of God. And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to do what you could not, and He died to provide you forgiveness and a fresh start.

Good morning. It’s Easter, the day the world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. It’s a different holiday than Christmas because we know Jesus rose right around this time of year and we don’t have a clue when He was born. I heard yesterday that our president has decided to make today, March 31st, transgender visibility day for some reason, as though our country needs another reason to focus on something besides the Lord. But we won’t. Let’s talk about the Lord this morning and the last night of His life. While the Bible doesn’t ask us to remember Jesus’ resurrection, it does ask us to remember His death in the form of the communion. There’s so much evidence that the Lord wants us to do this memorial feast every week – We now the early Christians devoted themselves to communion according to Acts 2:42, the church in Troas met on the 1st day of the week for the purpose of partaking of the Lord’s supper in Acts 20:7 and the Corinthians were supposed to be doing so according to 1 Corinthians 11:20, and early church history indicates churches took it each week. What’s it like for you when you take the Lord’s supper week after week after week? If it’s becoming stale, maybe it would help to consider what it was like for Jesus and the apostles when they took it together the very first time. I have a step-father who became a Christian probably when I was about eight years old. He’s a big reason for my love for God today. When he married my mom, three wild kids came in the deal, 12, 9 and 7. He was 23 years old working at a grocery store, and suddenly he had to figure out how to provide for us and how to be a dad for us. But he was also in kidney failure when he came into our lives, going to dialysis three a week. Some of you might understand how draining that is on the body. I didn’t understand until later the toll all of this was taking on him. I didn’t know that he came home one day and told my mom he was done, that he couldn’t go anymore. Because all I saw was a guy who went to work six days a week and came home cheerful and kind. When you can see events in the past through another person’s eyes, you appreciate more what was going on.

When Jesus and the 12 ate the first supper together all those centuries ago, it was a very emotional meal for them. The mood was somber. Hearts were heavy. Sometimes we talk about celebrating the Lord’s supper. That first one didn’t feel like a celebration.

While they were eating, Jesus dropped a bomb on them. I am about to be betrayed. Matthew 26:21-22. I try to think how that was received by the apostles. I’ve been so looking forward to eating the Passover with my disciples! Oh by the way, one of you is going to make me get murdered tonight. But enough of that, let’s enjoy this feast! How could they celebrate that time? My birthday is August 13th. Laura wants it to be a special day for me and has always tried to celebrate it. Unfortunately her father Jeff died not long after we met in 1994, on August 13th, but birthday. It’s hard to be joyful in sorrow. Passover was supposed to be a celebration – it’s remembering God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. And I’m sure they all tried to make it a happy time. But how do you not think about the bad news from Jesus. It’s interesting that when Paul looks back on the night of the first Lord’s supper over in 1 Corinthians 11, do you remember how he refers to it? 1 Corinthians 11:23. Remember that the first Christians took their feast in grief and they felt conflicted.

Let me share one more example of their troubled hearts in John 13. First Jesus revealed He was about to be betrayed, and now He informs them He is leaving them unexpectedly John 13:33-14:1. They now have to eat with Jesus knowing this is His goodbye supper. He was here, on the earth, among mean, and the Lord’s supper was His goodbye to us. Everytime we take it we can remember He was here, but He was taken from us. It’s kinda sad knowing this meal is to be taken with Jesus, not without Him.

That last supper also brought out loyal feelings from the disciples. Do you remember Jesus warning the they would all fall away? Mark 14:27-31. Everyone of them responded that they were fully committed to Him and would never do that. Do you remember before the Lord’s Supper that Jesus had talked about cups and bread to them? Jesus asked His disciples if they were able to drink the cup that He had to drink, referring to His sufferings. And they all said we would but they had no idea what Jesus was about to endure. And then Jesus offered them a cup here at the Last Supper which I imagine reminded them of their willingness to suffer with Jesus. The last time Jesus talked about bread being His body, He was testing their devotion. He said, John 6:53. Everybody was disgusted by that message. Except the 12. I don’t think they liked the idea either but they stayed. Do you think that last sermon about eating His flesh comes to mind now for the apostles? As Jesus now literally passes around bread and challenges them to eat it? Certainly they remembered Him challenging them to eat His flesh, and they recognized the commitment they were displaying to Him eating this bread. Centuries ago Christians were accused of being cannibals for eating the Lord’s Supper. People thought it was a ridiculous ceremony, perhaps hiding something more nefarious. But we Christians don’t care how others perceive it. We love displaying our loyalty to Jesus through this meal, Just like the disciples did during the first Lord’s Supper.

Now let’s talk about what the supper was like for Jesus. What do you think was on Jesus’ mind as He was taking the Lord’s Supper with His disciples? Well of course He was thinking about what was about to happen to Him. Luke 22:15. Do you want to know how you’re going to die? What if you knew from the very beginning, like your parents and everyone around you told you since you can remember, “Son, that March 16th death day is just around the corner, let’s make sure you’re ready.” Jesus always knew, even before man was created. The clock had always been ticking down to Gethsemane for Him. When the devil tempted Adam and Eve, now there’s the sin that requires me to come die. The first Passover when those sheep are roasted - “Those sheep foreshadow my death.” Every animal sacrifice was a reminder, every move the Father made assured the cross would happen. Was He excited when the day came to be born into the world, or was that just one step closer? When His preaching ministry began? And then here at the final supper. And there is no more sleep, there’s nothing left except to die. Luke 22:15-16. For Jesus the supper was the final moment before the day He’s been counting down since before the creation of the world.

But there was also a sense of hope for Jesus, as Hebrews 12 tells us. Hebrews 12:2.. He knew that this was going to be His great victory that would bring His children back to Him. I remember our conditioning test in football being an awful experience, but we would always end with 4 40 yard dashes, and when we go to the last 4 forties, we’re all about to die, but it was one of the easier parts of the test because we know it would be over in just another minute. And then the rest comes. Hebrews 12:2

Jesus was also thinking about getting His disciples and friends ready for His death. The last supper is when Jesus got down to wash the apostles dirty, stinky feet. John 13:5. While you partake the Lord’s supper, look down because that’s where you’ll find God this time.

So what was on the minds of the first ever partakers of the Lord’s supper? It was an emotional time for all of them. Jesus knew the suffering He’d been waiting for was finally here. But He also was hopeful about what it would accomplish, and He wanted to serve His disciples. The disciples struggled to celebrate due to their grief but they were determined to express their loyalty to Him during that meal. What might you focus your mind on next Lord’s supper?

These are some of the questions the Bible asks of you to test your loyalty. If it means a lot to you what Jesus did for you, I hope you will consider joining Him in a new way of life that He has prepared for you. You can get started by:

My dad used to let me sit on his lap while driving up and down the mountains in the Northeast. I was probably 10 years old at the time, and I remember one night that he thought it would be funny if he made me take the wheel on one of these twisty mountain roads. There is no way I’m giving Aiden the wheel on a road like this, but my dad’s a different breed. Salvation is described by the Bible as a difficult and dangerous path like this, a narrow and difficult path. And the Apostle Paul’s salvation journey illustrates this. He took a tough road before he was found by it. The Bible tells us that Jesus met Paul in a vision on the Road to Damascus, and that’s where he finally had his turnaround, but Paul’s journey to salvation was not a one-day process.

It may have been that Paul started right as a young Jew following God. We only get glimpses of his early years, like in Romans 7 describing his spiritual awakening and Philippians 3 where he describes the zeal he had and his righteousness. But then Jesus came along and He didn’t like Jesus and turned against God.

In Acts 23:1 Paul tells us that he though he had been doing right all his life. Acts 23:1. So maybe he was saved before Jesus.

But for whatever reason, when Jesus did come, Paul hated Him, and whatever faith he had in God up to that point was lost. And he became the villain instead,

Imprisoning and killing anyone he could who dared to follow Jesus. And when they died, Revelation chapter 6 says those saints prayed to God for vengeance against Paul and the others who spilled their blood. Revelation 6:10. This is the Paul that Jesus met on the road to Damascus. It doesn’t seem like he’s much of a candidate for salvation at that point, But obviously we don’t see like God sees. I struggle to feel hope for certain loved ones who don’t seem to be seeking the Lord, but Paul gives me hope that maybe they’re closer than I think.

I know the Lord believed there was something there because the scripture says He had been working on Paul. One of the first things Jesus told Paul when He spoke to Him on the road to Damascus was, “I’ve been trying to point you in the right direction – stop fighting me.” Acts 26:14 says . . . A goad (or some translations say “prick”) is a sharp stick that farmers would use to compel the cattle forward. So while dead saints were praying against Paul, Jesus was working on him to win him. While the church was wishing he was dead, God was trying to make him alive. Do you have loved ones who are kicking against the goads? Let’s take comfort in the fact that there is a goad working on them.

But notice also that Jesus tells Paul it’s hard for you to kick against the goads. An ox might try to kick back against the goad, but what happens when you kick a sharp stick? I don’t think I’ve ever tried it, but when I was a kid playing my grandmother’s house, there were lots of board in the backyard with nails sticking out of them and more than once they went straight into my foot. It’s not a good idea to kick those things. And if we’re not going in the direction God wants us to go, expect a goad, and the more you fight it, the harder it’ll be for you. If you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, get used to the pain until God gives up on you.

Now when the Lord finally decided to make His move on Paul, to bring him in, It seems to be the worst possible time to do it.

The scripture says that Jesus chose a moment when Paul was still breathing threats and murder against the people of God. Does that sound like a man who is anywhere close to salvation? And yet the Lord thought, “Yes, he’s finally ready!” And of course God’s timing is perfect and Paul responded with a changed heart.

And one thing that impresses me about Jesus’ conversation with Paul on the road to Damascus is how kind and calm he is. There’s a couple of guys on social media, one of them’s a street preacher, who allow unbelievers to ask them questions and challenge them, and people can be so mean to them. And they’re so kind back – that’s got to be hard to do while you’re being attacked. I think I’m more like Jonah with people a lot of times where I’m just not that interested in arguing with people – if you want to go to hell, fine Paul. The Lord is being persecuted by Paul but He’s not angry. He pleads. Why are you persecuting me? Why are you trying to wipe out Me and My people? I need to have more faith in lost people, because Jesus did – He saw a potential that nobody else saw and converted him at a moment that no one else would have even tried. God’s people are optimistic about the lost. I think about Paul here in Acts 26 telling his conversion story to King Agrippa and believing the King is right there in his faith. Acts 26:27. I think about how God pursued Jonah as he ran from the Lord, teaching him and working with him in such a kind way while Jonah kicks against God’s purpose for him. Or how Jesus dealt with the thief on the cross, saving him even after Matthew 27:44 says he had been mocking the Lord. There are many people who may not yet have their sins forgiven but are moving towards salvation, they’re on that windy, rocky, narrow path to salvation, and we need to learn to believe in them like Jesus does. Because it is a journey and a process and sometimes for some people they take the long way around to it. I think about my mom who was raised in an ungodly home, who knew nothing about the Bible or the Lord’s church when she moved out. But she knew she needed God, so she started looking around, going to every church she could find, studying and searching until she found Him. There is a couple who has visited us recently who remind me of my mom, going from church to church looking for God, on a journey of faith.

My point this morning is that salvation is a long journey and a difficult process for people, so we shouldn’t give up on them. The patriarch Jacob was in his 80s and 90s before He found God, you just never know. But it’s also important to understand that seeking people still are not saved. They still have to find forgiveness. So let’s think about what was the moment when Paul finally had his sins forgiven. At what point in his life could he finally die knowing that he would go to heaven?

You might think it was on that road when Paul finally got forgiven of his sins and was saved. Acts 9:1-6. But He was not saved that day Jesus appeared to Him as you’ll see.

And he wasn’t yet saved when he humbled himself and decided to quit persecuting Jesus. That repentance did not take all of his sins away.

And he wasn’t saved when he believed that Jesus was the Christ, and listened to His voice telling Paul to go into Damascus and await further orders.

And we also know that Paul was praying when he went into the city, but even then he hadn’t yet gotten forgiveness of his sins. Act 9:11 says that Paul was praying. That seems like a reasonable time to assume somebody is saved, when they pray to God in humble repentance. But I know he wasn’t saved yet even after that because it’s only at the very end of the story that Paul is told what to do to get his sins forgiven. And if God is telling somebody, “Here’s what you need to do to get your sins forgiven,” that’s a pretty good indicator they still have their sins, right? So what is that final act where Paul received forgiveness of his sins? Well, Acts 22:16 tells us.

Read with me Acts 22:12-16.

Acts 22:12-16. Is there any doubt Paul’s sins weren’t yet forgiven?

And that it was only after all of this that God finally forgave him? Look at everything that transpired before he could finally have the security of salvation.

But the Lord knew Paul way back when he was on this part of the road, that he would listen, and he believed in Paul that he would one day accept his mission . . . I think one of the greatest stories in the Bible is not faith in God but His faith in us.

Jesus had plans for Paul way back, to . . . Acts 26:17-18. I love that God had a mission for Paul set aside even before he was converted. And he has a mission in mind for you, too. And I love that God knew that Paul would accept the mission, And I think it’s amazing that Paul was given this duty to proclaim the good news to others even before he accepted his own salvation. Paul, quit fighting your purpose to go open the eyes of the world to my salvation! OK, Lord, that sounds wonderful! But can I have it too?

God has been working on us even when we were still breathing out threats and murders, that’s how much He loves us. So where are you on your journey? Rebelling or ready? If so, then why do you delay?

Good morning. Last I had the opportunity to preach, we began a study from 1 Timothy, Asking the question, “What kind of church should we be striving to be?” I think it’s an important question that we as a new church need to be asking ourselves.

And 1 Timothy has some guidance for us regarding that direction. It’s a letter the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy as he was working with the church in Ephesus, which is here. And that Church was struggling to find its way, and a lot of that had to do with its leadership.

Now we, the Mesa Valley Church of Christ, have an advantage over the Ephesian Church. We have better leadership than they had. We have men who want to lead, and who are putting their desires aside to serve each other and create the kind of culture God expects in His churches. Their leadership was in serious trouble. Among their leadership, savage wolves were infiltrating, Paul prophesies in Acts 20. And their teaching was causing all kinds of problems for that church.

Let me show you how much Paul talks in 1 Timothy about the importance of leadership using the scriptures properly. In chapter one, Paul commands Timothy to make sure teachers are Teaching the right things, Not focusing on non-Bible things or speculation about things God has not revealed to us, Make sure the teachers are not focusing on pointless discussions – there should be a goal in our instruction, Not acting like they know everything while actually not understanding, And they’re using the scriptures the right way. There’s a right way and a wrong way to use the truth of scriptures.

Skip over to chapter 4 with me to notice more things Timothy must say to the leadership at Ephesus. Let’s make sure our leaders are not forbidding things God has blessed as though that will make us more righteous.

And then in chapter six, let’s make sure we’re not a church of babblings, contradictions and false knowledge, And this makes me think about academic discussions where you just throw ideas around and explore crazy thoughts because it’s fun to ask all of the what-ifs and throw around ideas nobody else has ever thought about. That might be OK in a university but not in a church.

So what kind of church are we striving to become? I hadn’t made this correlation before – Matthew 7:16 teaches that we’ll know them by their fruits. Who do we know by their fruits in that passage? False prophets, they produce bad apples. What we need to be aware of as we choose a path for ourselves as the Mesa Valley Church of Christ is that bad teaching produces bad fruit. It doesn’t have to come from false prophets, it just has to be bad teaching . . .

That gets into pointless topics and speaks without knowledge, and uses great scriptures in useless or destructive ways,

Or takes some kind of ascetic, “all pleasure is bad” approach, or would rather break down the Bible academically than use it to build up the people of God.

Bad teaching is going to produce bad fruit, no matter where it comes from. And another lesson from 1 Timothy is that we can tell bad teaching by its fruits. So let’s say hypethically that the church is not really sure if what the leaders and preachers are teaching the right things or not . . . (We all should know that, God makes us responsible to know what’s true, we’re all attaining to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God) But let’s just say we’re not sure. Bad teaching is going to be revealed by its fruits. Paul teaches Timothy you’ll know it’s bad because it promotes speculations, 1 Timothy 1:4. People start losing their faith. The church atmosphere becomes toxic. 1 Timothy 6:3-5.

But in between the passages written by Paul warning Timothy to address bad teaching are sections that show us how to get to our goal of being a healthy, fruitful church.

In chapter one we learn that right teaching is going to turn us into a loving church of pure-hearted people with clean consciences and sincerity in our faith.

It’s going to convict sinners if we’re using it the right way. 1 Timothy 1:8-9. It’s going to create humble servants as we see in the Lord’s grace acting on Paul at the end of chapter 1.

Our men are going to be prayerful and work in solidarity with each other, And our women are going to be dignified, sober and modest.

Our church members are going to be respectful of each other, the younger respecting the older, men and women like brothers and sisters. And our families are caring for their own and not burdening the church.

That’s what we should be pursuing, and we should be pursuing it by leadership and the church prioritizing the proper use of the word of God. Good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. Let’s pray for God’s help in becoming the good tree producing a church of love and purity and sincere faith. And pray that God will help us to know how to use His Word for that purpose, And that we can be the type of leaders who lead by example, who can have the courage commanded by Paul in 1 Timothy, whose lives look like the men he describes in chapter 3, and who will fight the good fight.

How well do you know your Bible? How well do you know how to use it to accomplish its work?

Fatigue, failure, fear What do we learn from the psalms about helping our brethren who are frustrated? The first thing is to be grateful they’re frustrated rather than despairing because frustration implies they’re still fighting. I believe David is frustrated in the 4th Psalm when he says, Psalm 4:1 But it sounds like he is still fighting for God’s help. Also in Psalm 35 David sounds frustrated by certain people who are trying to kill him but he’s trying to do something about it. He says, Psalm 35:1-4. And even in Psalm 73, which is where Asaph complains about the prosperity of the wicked, his frustration was a good sign because it meant he was still looking at the problem from the perspective of God’s people. He says in verse 13, Psalm 73:13-14. So frustration is good because it means our brethren haven’t quit yet. Frustrated people are still clinging onto hope. And I tried to think about what kinds of frustrations we deal with among brethren, and I thought about the ones who don’t like how things are going with the local church, like maybe they feel the elders or the preacher aren’t doing a good job, or the brethren aren’t caring enough; Or brethren who are frustrated at themselves because of temptations or an inability to get busy for the Lord, and maybe we can encourage them by appreciating the fight they are showing.

I think frustration is a key characteristic of God’s people. Which is why God chose the name Israel for His Old Testament people, meaning? Wrestles with God. If you look up the definitions of frustration, you find that it implies a strong emotion – For example, the Hebrew word Kaas is sometimes translated frustration and it refers to being provoked to anger, And there’s another Hebrew word Aneph that originally meant the snort of a camel that implies strong negative emotion, But the other ingredient besides strong emotion to the definition of frustration is a sense of helplessness. The Latin word frustra means “in vain.” So fighting for something in vain. Which I think wrestles with God is a pretty good representation of those two ingredients. Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed. So we can appreciate our brethren who are frustrated because that’s a godly quality.

As I was looking through the Psalms to learn about frustration, I found three categories of things to share with you relating to helping frustrated people – I found causes of frustration, dangers of frustration and solutions to frustration. So let me take you through some Psalms that show some causes of frustration. Starting in the 2nd Psalm, fighting against God and His rule causes frustration. Psalm 2:1. You have the two ingredients of frustration right there – rage and vanity. So of course when we fight against God’s will for us we’re going to be frustrated. Psalm 44 teaches that holding onto hope causes frustration. The psalmist talks about God’s reputation in verses 1-3, and then his belief that God will bring victory. And then you see the frustration starting in verse 9 because even though he believes God will bring victory, He hasn’t done it yet and actually the opposite has happened, 44:9-11. So faith is a cause of frustration because hopeless people don’t get frustrated.

Good afternoon. The Bible has much to say about new things. Sing to the Lord a new song. We are a new creature. From Jew and Gentile is born one new man, establishing peace. A new name. New spirits and hearts. A new lump of dough born from the old lump. We are a new thing, and it’s exciting to be a part of it, and I’d like to talk tonight about how we can be something new in a way that pleases God.

Because new isn’t always great. Ask Paul his thoughts on the older versus the newer hymns. Churches today sell themselves based on how they’re not like the old churches, and that they’re doing innovative things. Which is never something God asked us to do. I think about the Athenians in Acts 17 who could think of nothing better to do than find something new to listen to.

Or Jesus’ words in Matthew 13 noting that some old things are to be treasured, and some new things are to be treasured. We’re a new thing, and we are to be treasured like the great new things in scripture, and we have a chance to bring glory to God if we continue to do the right new things.

We are a new creation. When someone becomes a new creature through baptism, it’s exciting for us and for heaven. And when we made the decision to create a new thing from two churches, it was exciting. Josh Higgins when I came out of that room with a shocked look on my face said it felt like I was announcing a baptism. It was wonderful. But what happens if someone becomes a new creature but fails to keep changing or keep becoming new every day? The scripture commands that we grow in grace and knowledge, 2 Peter 3:18. And we can’t stop either. We’ve started something, now we need to finish it. We’ve had to do lots of meetings already to hammer out plans moving forward – we’ve talked about kids classes, preaching and teaching rotations, duties, the women are working on curriculum, the men have already planned a monthly get together, the topic of elders has come up – I really appreciate the attitude the brethren have come into this with, and it’s why we will have success. Paul commanded Titus in Crete to put in order what was left unfinished, which in his case was to appoint elders in all the churches. So what exciting work does God have in store for us as a church to strive for? It would be wonderful to appoint elders, to become evangelistic, for our faith to become known everywhere like the Thessalonians. We are a new creation, and may God allow us to thrive.

We are a new lump of dough. Paul calls the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 5:7 to . . . 1 Corinthians 5:7. The way Paul tells them to do this is to remove the wicked man from among them, the problem is that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. So once sin gets in our midst it’s really hard to get out. So how do you purge out the old leaven without just throwing the old lump away? I don’t know. Only through God I suppose. We took two lumps of dough both with some leaven in there and made a new lump out of it, and God’s help we can be a fully purged new lump set for a brand new, fresh batch. That’s exciting to me.

We have a new name. It’s a blessing in scripture to be called by a new name. Abram is now Abraham Saul was given Paul. Simon was given Peter. God promised in Isaiah chapter 62 that his people will some day be called by a new name, which no doubt would be named after Jesus Christ. Twice in the book of Revelation, overcomers are promised new names. And we have a new name that reflects our unity, something for us to live up to and continue striving for.

And then finally with new things come new songs. Psalm 40:3 Have you ever noticed how often the Bible talks about new songs? I count nine times. Psalm 33, 40, 96, 98, 144, 149, Isaiah 42:10, Revelation 5 and 14. What’s the significance of new songs, Biblically speaking? Take a look at some passages with me and think about why new songs are important: Psalm 40:1-3. So here is a man who was stuck in a slimy, muddy pit, crying for help, waiting for a long time to be rescued, Until finally the Lord lifts him out and puts him not just back where he was but onto a firm place to stand. And he’s given a new song to sing. What’s new about it? Well, he wasn’t praising while in the pit – He was preparing for death. New beginnings need new songs – sometimes we need new words to express new thoughts and feelings that we’ve never had before. I think I had that experience seeing this valley for the first time, between the monument, bookcliffs and grand mesa it took my breath away and needed now to find a way to express that. Maybe we don’t yet have a song for the new thing that we are as a church but we do need to find new expressions to share what is happening to us.

Take a look at Psalm 96. Psalm 96:1-3. So why a new song here? Everyday we wake up and remember His salvation, we see His glory and His marvelous deeds. Does it deserve a new song if it’s just the same thing day after day? Psalm 96:2. Well I guess it depends on how wonderful each day is. Every day since arriving in Columbus Ohio the Yeagers I’m guessing are pinching themselves – it’s just been one blessing after another. If God is that good to us every day, we’re going to need to continue inventing new ways of expressing our appreciation for Him to keep up.

Turn to Isaiah 42:10. Here the new song is for a future thing that God is doing. Isaiah 42:10-16. The Lord will march out like a champion and triumph. He will lead the blind, guiding them out of darkness into light. What’s coming can be exciting enough to sing a new song. I think about what we can be here, a much-needed light to this valley, a place for people who want to do all in the name of the Lord and they’re not finding that in other churches around here. A healthy church with elders and deacons and is alive and hot. And that hope should be enough to get us excited and sing a new song to the Lord, even though it’s not here yet.

And then one last passage, from Revelation chapter 5. This is the story of Jesus being worthy to take the scroll from the throne of God. Revelation 5:1-10. New songs can commemorate victorious moments. As well as exciting things to come, and daily blessings, and new beginnings.

And there aren’t a lot of new beginnings that we’ll have over our lifetimes, so when we get to be a part of something like this new church, we need to be mindful of the moment and how special it is so that we can feel new. This is wonderful what we get to be a part of. And it deserves our best care and effort to mold it and make it into a new body that is pleasing to God every day. And I hope none of us are ready to let off the gas. Let’s get to work.

Good morning. I think we have an opportunity to do a great thing for the Lord’s work in Mesa County. We have an opportunity to bring brethren together in Spirit and in Truth. Two weeks ago we worshiped with the Mesa Avenue congregation, and it was wonderful, and I think everyone was blessed by it. I don’t think Satan liked it too much – he would rather that we remain splintered, with one small group meeting over here and another dying group over there and another gilted group meeting in their homes over there. We have an opportunity to do something that is pleasing to the Lord, and if it’s a righteous thing to do to come together with them, the Lord will bless our efforts.

David said in Psalm 133, Psalm 133. It’s been exciting seeing the efforts that Oxley has been making trying to bring brethren together, And Ken Brodel working to do this, And The ladies over there at Mesa Avenue getting excited about it, And getting to this place where it might happen. It reminds me of what Jesus said when the 70 returned from their teaching and found success, and they were so excited and Jesus was excited for them too and He told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” It would be so wonderful to bring brethren together. Paul asked the question in 1 Corinthians 1:13 when talking to brethren who were separated, “Is Christ divided?” And I want to ask you that same question – is Christ divided? Shouldn’t we do everything we possibly can to unite brethren, even if it might not work? How can the answer be anything but yes? Can you think of any reason why the Lord might come down to us today and say, “You know what guys, let’s pump the brakes on this idea. It would be wrong to unite my people together like you’re trying to do.” So here’s what I’d like to do this morning – I’d like to go through some scriptures that indicate there are times when division is scriptural, when we should be separated, and then conclude with situations from the Bible where we should not.

And I’ll start with the obvious; God’s people were right to separate from those who were impure. God hammered this point home through the books of Moses by teaching that no impurity should be in the camp of Israel. And, as indicated by Leviticus 13:46, the impure must live outside the camp rather than in our midst. In Jeremiah 3:9, God tells us that He sent the nation of Israel away and gave her a certificate of divorce because of her adulteries. Which was not something He wanted to do because He loved her. Jeremiah 2 describes the moment God laid eyes on Israel, and her devotion to Him back then, but sometimes we separate even from people we love because of their idolatry. And then 1 Corinthians 5 teaches that we cast out the leaven from our midst because a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. 1 Corinthians 11 says that division is God’s way of revealing who are His true people. 1 Corinthians 11:18-19. So one godly reason for God’s people to separate is if we’re separating ourselves from impurity.

Another reason God’s people separated was due to an abundance of blessings between them. According to Genesis 13, Abraham and Lot were required to part ways because the land couldn’t sustain both of them. Genesis 13:5-7. And so perhaps this is a godly reason to separate from brethren. Maybe there is such an abundance in a church that it would be best to serve God separately. I know churches that have gotten so large that they decided to divide up and start a church in a neighboring city. This happened in Sunnyvale, California decades ago. From that church sprang a church in San Jose, and then in Santa Clara, and some even left and started a church up in the state of Washington. God’s people parted ways when they had an abundance.

God’s people separated from alliances with ungodly nations. In Isaiah chapter 30, the Lord criticizes Israel for depending on the nation of Egypt to protect them from the Canaanites. Isaiah 30:1-3. So when Hezekiah became king and Judah was attacked by the Assyrians in chapter 36, he did not send for Egypt or anyone else for help – he prayed to God alone for deliverance, and God killed 138,000 Assyrian soldiers in one day. I don’t believe in alliances. Alliances would be when two groups who are different, with different beliefs and ways, work together despite their differences to mutually benefit each other. Unity is not making an alliance, it’s joining together into one body. I could not join a group that did things that violated my conscience – that’s not unity. I think some Christians do that – my friend Andy and I were talking about this on Friday – Christians join churches that do things that violate their conscience, and they tolerate it for a while, and after a time their conscience becomes seared and they no longer have a problem with those things they used to. A mutual friend of ours married a man who then left a sound church to join one that was not practicing truth, and it bothered her at first but then she was OK with it. Now they’re both Greek Orthodox, and it happened gradually. He who doubts is condemned. Whatever is not from faith is sin. To him who knows the right thing to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

Another reason God’s people separated from each other was to go out and preach the gospel. In Acts 8 we’re told that the brethren in Jerusalem took advantage of the persecution by leaving the city to teach. Acts 8:4. So that’s a great reason to separate.

In Acts 15 we find an example of two godly people dividing due to a major disagreement. Acts 15:36-41. What’s interesting about this division is that we know everyone involved was a godly person. Of course Paul was, Barnabas remained so, and Mark and Silas prove useful later on in the scripture as well. And we don’t know who was right or wrong in this story – maybe both of them were. And when they divided here, they both ended up doing great work for the Lord separately, perhaps doing twice as much separated as they did together. So maybe if brethren do end up dividing over some issue, there can still come some positive out of it by both diligently working for the Lord while apart. But we should also notice that those brethren only separated for a time, and then ultimately worked it out and came back together. I doubt God would have been pleased if the four of them hated each other forever after the events of Acts 15.

So are there good reasons for God’s people to separate? Sure – God can be pleased by our efforts to separate at times. And we need to ask ourselves what time it is. Our plea, what sets us apart from other churches, is that we ask the question, “What does God want us to do?” Not what do we feel like doing, what do we think is best, what would make me comfortable or uncomfortable, what am I excited about or afraid of, But what does God want us to do? How important is that question to you, truly? Is there any other question that matters besides that one? The answer is no.

There are also plenty of reasons to seek unity with brethren whenever possible, I think we know that don’t we? Because it’s good and pleasant, Psalm 133. It was so wonderful worshiping with our brethren the other day. Because Christ is not divided, 1 Corinthians 1:13. And they often united despite major church problems. The church at Pergamum in Revelation 2 was a seriously flawed church with brethren in it who hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans, which God said in verse 6 that He hated, and they had others who hold to the teachings of Balaam, and God didn’t encourage anyone to leave that church because of its sin, but to stay and fight for it and purify themselves. The church at Thyatira tolerated the teachings of Jezebel, but there were some there who were innocent whom God did not burden. The church at Sardis needed to wake up, but there were a few who had not soiled their clothes, the Lord says in chapter 3 verse 4, and they are victorious and worthy – but nowhere does God command them to separate.

There’s a big part of me that says separation and division is so much easier. You don’t have to deal with different ideas, You don’t have to put up with how should we do worship? What times should we meet? When should we do the Lord’s supper? You don’t have to accommodate brethren and their consciences about different things. Being separated is more comfortable, is more certain, we don’t know what could happen if we unify. But there’s another part that does say, how wonderful and pleasant it is. And how exciting it would be to watch Satan fall from heaven like lightning. And there’s a big part of me that compels the question, “What does the Lord want us to do?” Do you know the answer to that question? Let’s pray and meditate so that we can do what’s pleasing to Him always.

Philippians 2:12

I have found over the years that Christians have in their heads a list of things that they must do in order to be accepted by God. Do you do that? Do you like lists? Maybe a minimum 1 church service per week (because if it’s zero that’s probably going to eliminate us but is 3 really necessary?); read through the Bible at least once every other year. Contribute at least 10% of total wages ever earned. I think we like lists because it makes being a Christian less nebulous and subjective. “Do these things and you will live.” Easy peasy. So let’s try to make that list this today. Not the one for becoming a Christian, we know what that one is (hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized). But the list we need to follow after we’re converted to get us into heaven.

Because we know that not all believers are going to hang on and make it into heaven.

Before we make our list, I want to show you how Israel tried to do this and God’s response. At the top of their checklist was “Go to worship” just like it would probably be on ours. They put together solemn assemblies for the Lord and were sure that would get themselves a good grade, But instead God didn’t like it. Amos 5:21 Another obvious box to check for them was providing sacrifices, but again God rejected it. Amos 5:22-23 So why wasn’t God pleased with them? Verse 24 says it’s because it’s not what He wanted. Amos 5:24 Then they worked to make themselves holy, and God rejected it. Isaiah 65:5 They washed meticulously before meals to purify themselves from any unclean thing they might have accidentally touched, and the Lord criticized them. Matthew 15:1-3 And I imagine this was frustrating for the Jews because here they are doing all of this work for the Lord and He says, “No thank you!” It reminds me of Cain’s rejected sacrifice in Genesis 4. So why isn’t God accepting their efforts? It’s because they don’t know God or what He wants. A new husband might be frustrated that his wife doesn’t accept the expensive vacuum that he got her for her birthday – he needs to do the work to understand her and he won’t be rejected.

One thing that would have helped Israel is getting to know God better before compiling their lists of things He wants from them. How well do we know the Lord?

God was kind enough to provide Israel the list He wanted to see from them, so let me show it to you. And it’s probably still a good list for today, so if you would like to have a checklist for Christianity so that you can know exactly what things needs to be done to get to heaven, here’s a good starting point. First, God says Isaiah 1:17, 23b. Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. Everyone loves a bribe (i.e. Don’t take bribes) And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them. Jeremiah 5:1. “Roam to andfro through the streets of Jerusalem, And look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her. He says He’s looking for Hosea 4:1, 2, 6. Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. 2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. He says Joel 2:12-13, 17. “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil. Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”

He’s looking for people who won’t Amos 5:12, 14-15, and who love Amos 5:10. For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate. Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! 15 Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks with integrity. Zephaniah 2:3. Seek the Lord, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger. The ones who escape punishment will be Zephaniah 3:12. “But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. They work hard to build up God’s house, Haggai 1:4. 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” So that’s God’s list – do all these things and you’ll make it, don’t do those things and good luck.

Going into the New Testament, we would have to add: Rightly divide God’s word, 2 Timothy 2:15. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. Seeking and saving the lost, Matthew 28:18-20. Bringing back fallen brothers and sisters, Galatians 6:1. No jealousy, partying, drunkenness, Galatians 5:21. What I’m hoping you’re feeling right about now is overwhelmed by thinking of salvation in terms of a list. Because none of us are gonna make it if we’re thinking about working out our salvation like that – we’re all going to get Fs.

I don’t think God wants us to work out our salvation in this way. I believe that instead He wants us focusing on dev eloping the heart of the faithful people of God. Let me show you the list that we need to focus on above all the good deeds in order to work out our salvation. Number one, we need to start with knowing God. God’s complaint against Israel over and over again was that they didn’t know Him. Our goal has to be to become intimately acquainted with who God is, what He likes, what bothers Him, everything about His nature, as Paul says . . . Philippians 3:8 How close are you to this? Where you don’t just obey, you understand Him! God’s people know Him. And they love Him, James 1:12. Do you love God deeply like He loves you? Counting the hairs on your head, having watched you from the womb, taking an interested in when you sit down and when you get up? The crown of life goes to those who love Him. And it goes not to the ones who do His Laws but who love His Laws, Psalm 119:97. What do you think about this book? Isn’t it beautiful? Aren’t you glad He showed them to us? Do we get excited learning about what’s in here? God’s people love it. And they hate sin. We’ve talked about this from Romans 6:1-2. I know there’s a part of us that wants to sin. But there needs to be a greater part of us that is angry about sin and hates it and wants to get away from it and pleads with God for help against it and looks for ways out of it. Because God’s people hate sin. And they have faith in what God’s doing. Hebrews 11:6. God’s people not only believe that He is real but that He is good. Do you read all these rules and truly believe that God is trying to reward you with this great wisdom? Then that’s a good sign of faith. And finally God’s people are committed and loyal to Him. Hebrews 10:39. They hold on. They aren’t going to leave Him. Not when they get caught up in sin, or when life gets too unfair or difficult or when they feel like quitting.

So do you think about salvation in terms of a list? Maybe you have your own – church, Lord’s supper, don’t cuss, don’t drink, a few other things. Or maybe you’re scanning the Bible working on His.

Like what we see from the prophets,

Or in the New Testament.

But the Lord doesn’t want us to pursue righteousness in that way, as though we must do all of the works now to be saved. We are to pursue it by faith, which involves the weightier principles of . . . If we get this foundation right then the rest will follow and we will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.

It means a lot to me to worship with all of you this morning. We have had this day targeted on our calendars for months as a day to invite our friends and neighbors and have prayed that you would come which is so encouraging, and I hope you’ve been encouraged as well. We know that we’re a little bit different – our worship is simple, and our men have done a great job explaining that we do it this way by design in an effort to be pleasing to God.

For this morning’s lesson I’d like to talk about how God sees us and what He expects of us. King David long ago wrote about looking up at the stars and being impressed by the fact that we mean anything at all to God. He said about man that, Psalm 8:5. I don’t think that people understand who man is in the eyes of God. I was talking with a gentlemen recently about how he was taught about God’s view of man growing up. He was raised in a typical conservative Christian denomination that taught the typical protestant beliefs, And now he’s angry at his church and his parents because he can’t get over this feeling that he’s inherently bad and worthless, and that God might love him but doesn’t really like him and the best he or anybody can do is become forgiven nobodies that someday will be graced eternity in heaven with a God doesn’t doesn’t think much of them. Or we’ll probably just go to hell because we’re bad. I want to show this morning that God values us and has high expectations of us.

Do you share a belief like my friend that you are bad at your core, and you’re having a hard time shaking the thought? Now of course it’s true that we’re sinners. The Bible’s pretty clear about that. Romans 3:23.

Romans 10:10ff. But this isn’t inherent badness, this is a choice.

I worked for a time at child welfare a while back, working with parents who needed help and kids who have suffered. And one thing that made all of us mad was when kids became convinced by their caregivers that they were pieces of garbage, that they were just bad kids. Do you think five year olds should think they’re worthless because they misbehave or get angry? I hope not. So why would we think that of ourselves?

Are we inherently evil, or inherently wonderful? I mean, we are made in the image of God, Genesis 1:27. Crowned with glory and majesty, Psalm 8:5. Partakers of the divine nature, 1 Peter 1:4.

And I know there’s a common believe that we are born in sin, cursed by the guilt of Adam and are born with sinful natures. And I think that teaching is part of the problem here. Those kids in child welfare who have just accepted they were hot garbage from a young age, how do you think that affects them as they grow older? Well, I’m worthless, so I guess I’ll act like it. They don’t value themselves so they don’t have any ambition, they don’t honor their own bodies, they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. What I read in Romans chapter five is that sin spread from Adam to us because we sinned, Romans 5:12.

It’s time to accept that you are inherently wonderful, crowned with glory and majesty, and start living up to your inherent value.

Another despairing thought that many Christians, including my friend, struggle with, is that God has no reason to love us, He only does because it’s in His nature to do so.

Everybody knows that God loves us. John 3:16.

But we also know that this word for love is what? Agape. Which means He chooses to love us. Because He’s so good and kind that even though we’re disgusting and horrible He decides that He’s going to love the piles of garbage that we are. And that’s just not Biblical. Certainly we don’t deserve God’s love because of our choices. That would be like if we killed someone’s child and they loved us anyway, we wouldn’t deserve their love.

But God’s love for us is deeper than a choice that He makes. Here’s evidence for that. John 16:27 says . . . John 16:27. Now this is not agape. This is Phileo love.

It means . . . Read. That’s not a choice, that’s an emotion. Have you ever loved somebody that drove you crazy? That maybe you wished you hadn’t, you just couldn’t help yourself. It wasn’t a choice that you made.

God doesn’t just love you because He has to. He wants you. My friend described the teaching of his upbringing in this way: We are disgusting sinners, and God is disgusted by us, and we are abominations to Him, But because of His great love, He overcomes all of those negative feelings and chooses to love us anyway, And He graciously offers us forgiveness despite our sinful natures, And He does so by offering His Son as the sacrifice and looking at His Son rather than us to stomach providing us forgiveness. Otherwise He might just throw up. That’s not what scripture teaches us. He loves us because He wants us to be His, to be His children Maybe because He made us and knows how wonderful His creation is? He wants us back because He wants us, because we’re something worthwhile for Him to have.

I always think about this passage in Psalm 139 when pondering God’s desire of us. Why does he pay attention to our sitting down and rising up? And observe my thoughts and listen to all my words? Well I know why I did that with my kids – because they were my kids. He was watching us in the womb, verse 13 says. Why does He care so much to scrutinize everything about me? I think I know.

So then all of this begs one final question. If we are this wonderful, created to be good and honorable creatures, And God not only loves us but desires us emotionally, Then what does that mean for us? It should set the bar higher in our minds. Maybe we can be more than just forgiven.

Maybe we can also excel.

One thing I appreciate about churches like this one and want to be a part of them is that there is always an effort to ask questions like, “Are we doing things the right way?” Is God pleased with this? Are we moving in the right direction? The worship is simple but the standards are high, and I am thankful to be a part of brethren whose ambition is to be pleasing to the Lord.

Long ago when the apostle Peter was asked, “What do we need to do for salvation,” He gave this answer: Acts 2:38. If you haven’t yet repented and been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and are ready to do so this morning, please come forward now while we stand and sing.

Isaiah 40:31. There’s probably not too many Bible verses more beloved than this one. People are comforted to know the Lord renews our strength and makes us soar like eagles. But I think the back story of this verse makes it even more powerful and I’d like to share it with you this morning.

By the time we get to this verse in Isaiah, more than half the story has been told. And so far it’s been a pretty discouraging book. I just want you to notice from this chart that the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are about judgement.

God is coming to punish Israel for their sins. Isaiah 1:25 says of it, See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her— but now murderers! 22 Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. 23 Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them. 24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you;[b] I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. So God’s coming to punish them. My mom used to do the, “Just wait until your father gets home” to us. And then I’d have to wait in my room until he got home, and my poor dad, it didn’t matter if my dad agreed with it or not he had to discipline us now because my mom had it all orchestrated. And so he’d come in and spank us with the wooden spoon. Isaiah 1-39 is the warning that you are in trouble for your sins and God’s coming. It’s going to be destruction, you’re going to be uprooted, He’s not coming to heal you, you’re not talking your way out of this one.” The Lord takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people. 25 Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle. 26 The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground. Isaiah 3:13, 25-26.

Now those who know the story remember that it did end up being a terrible punishment for them. God used the Babylonians to punish Israel, and it was awful. There’s a whole book about it called Lamentations. But by Isaiah 40 it’s already happened. The punishment happened, and Israel’s still in their room, sulking and doing that post-cry sniffle, and they’re hurt and guilty and upset. And there’s footsteps again coming down the hall again towards her door. That’s the feel of chapter 40. What’s God going to say after the punishment? What’s the lecture going to be? If you can feel that scene, then you understand the feel of Isaiah 40.

And that’s the context that we need to read this verse within. So let’s read the chapter together, post-punishment. Isaiah 40

What does God want us to hear after we have sinned and experienced the consequences of them? They are now behind you, they are now behind God. It’s time now for double comfort, it’s time for tenderness. Isaiah 40:2. So be done, With whatever are the things you do that indicate it isn’t ended for you – Sulking, feeling sorry for yourself, feeling scared or hopeless, whatever indicates that God has moved on but you haven’t.

What was it like when your dad was coming down the hall after you had gotten in trouble? My biological father is about the size of a bear, and I’ve seen him punch holes in things when he was mad at us kids. It’s not a good feeling. But it was the same for my stepfather who was much smaller but I still feel the dread of having to have this conversation and maybe face more punishment from him. What’s the feeling when God is coming for us after we’d gotten in trouble? Isaiah 40:3 He’s coming. What should we know about that? That we are weak but He is strong: Flesh is grass, beauty fades, but God’s Word stands forever. That He comes with might (10) and His arm rules, That no one can understand the magnitude of God, and the nations are a drop in the bucket to Him, that He is immeasurable and the nations are nothing to Him. That His power is so far above us. Isaiah 40:21-26 But all of this is framed as good news for us as we’re sulking in our bedrooms waiting for Him to come to us. Verse 9 says . . . Isaiah 40:9 Great news! And that He’s coming to . . . Isaiah 40:11. What’s the good news about that? The thing about having such a powerful God who sits so high above everything and everyone, and severely punishes and upholds righteousness, Is that if He has the power to also provide for His loved ones. My step dad is little. He’s 5'3". I’m pretty sure I was bigger then him when he was spanking me. But I remember that when he wasn’t home at night because he was still working, I was nervous lying in bed waiting for him to come home because he made me feel safe. And then as soon as he got home I could go to sleep. And I think that’s the effect God wants to have on us by describing His own strength in light of our frailness. He’s done punishing us and now He comes in His might to be our gentle shepherd. I’ve always tried to be done after I’ve had to discipline the kids. I want it to be back to hugs and fun and good feelings again asap. Can you see your God like that? He’s powerful and strong and mighty, but here He comes in all that might to be your Father?

And He wants us to know now that He’s over it and that He now wants to care and love us. He says beginning in verse 27, Isaiah 40:27-28 I wonder if God gets tired of people limiting in their minds what He can do. Maybe that’s why He feels the need to express His power throughout this chapter. Quit saying that I don’t understand what is happening to you or that I don’t care. Don’t you know Me at all? I remember getting in trouble as a get and I would get so mad that I would start packing like I was going to run away because my mom was being so unfair. Israel has been sinful, and they got punished for it, and they’re hurting and sulking, And they’re accusing God of not caring.

So all of that is the context of this verse that we all know – Israel has just gotten punished, and they are sulking, and God is on His way, And they’re afraid of Him and not sure that He cares about them, And what God wants them to know is that it’s in the past and now it’s time for tenderness, And if you’re still feeling frail and defeated, then understand this: Isaiah 40:31.

Are you able to put your sin behind you where God has put it? And before you answer that question, think about how you approach prayer, think about how you perceive God. Is He the gentle Shepherd? Are you able to come to Him with your needs and complaints? As for me, I shall call upon God, And the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice. He will redeem my soul in peace [ n ] from the battle which is against me, He is waiting to renew us and show us how to soar if we’re ready to wait on Him.

Good morning. Last week two of our brethren suffered tragedy, Clint with the loss of his father after receiving a cancer diagnosis just days ago. And he and I were talking about how sometimes it feels like God is just piling on, which we’ll see in the complaint of Baruch in just a moment. Also there was a memorial service yesterday at Carl’s assisted living facility for a 40 year old resident, Krysta, who died in a car crash Monday. And many friends and family of Krysta are trying to come to grips with the unfairness of that loss. And at the service we saw Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes wrestling with this question, saying in Ecclesiastes 9, Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. 2 Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:1-3) The value of the complaint of Baruch from Jeremiah 45 is that it has God’s response to a grieving man. It’s actually more of a rebuke. The scriptures take a balanced approach to grief, giving us both compassion and rebuke in proper measures, and Baruch’s story is a transition from God understanding and comforting us to God exhorting us to understand His decisions and accept the desperations of life.

Please read with me from Jeremiah chapter 45. Jeremiah 45 So what do you see from the initial reading? That God had given the prophet Jeremiah a message for Baruch. That Baruch is sorrowful and in pain. That God’s message to Baruch is that the Lord is about to destroy everything He had built, And that He wants Baruch to know not to be selfish and ambitious because everyone’s going to experience disaster, But God will spare his life. Alright, so we’ll come back to the passage, but first let’s take a look at who is Baruch.

First, he obviously lived at the same time Jeremiah did since they’re talking to each other. Jeremiah and Baruch were both in Jerusalem in 586 BC when the Babylonians destroyed it, which was one of the worst events in history. Lamentations 4:10 says tenderhearted women cooked their own children to survive the siege. Children were fainted in the streets, starving. But Baruch survived it as God promised in chapter 45:5. So he has a right to complain about his sorrow and groan. Who knows how many family and friends died terrible deaths before his eyes during all of that. Secondly, we know that Baruch was from a prominent family. His father Neriah is mentioned in chapter 45:1 as if we ought to know him. And then in chapter 51 verse 59, several of his family members are listed including his brother Seraiah who was an official of some sort. Jeremiah 51:59. Also the evil leaders in Jerusalem knew about Baruch according to 43:3, and they actually believe Baruch was above Jeremiah in influence, Jeremiah 43:1-3. Two of Baruch’s seals have been discovered, and the cool thing about them is they have fingerprints pressed into them as well. Maybe it’s his. Maybe it’s Jeremiah’s, that would be awesome.

The seals call him Baruch the scribe. He’s the one who initially wrote down the prophecies of Jeremiah so that we could have them today. So despite his nobility, God gave him a servant job of attending to Jeremiah the prophet.

Baruch was also courageous, which we learn from Jeremiah 36:5-8. Jeremiah got himself banned from going into the temple because people hated what he had to say so much. So he sent in Baruch to pass along his message from the Lord. Jeremiah 36:5-8. And I would imagine that if you do what God commands you to do and lose everything for it, you’re probably going to struggle a little bit, and that’s where he’s at right now.

Baruch says, “Woe is me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain: I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.” And we know Baruch said that because God told him that’s what He said. Which meant God heard it and reflected on it. He is a good God who hears our prayers. The scripture says Baruch said this when he wrote Jeremiah’s prophecy from the 4th year of Jehoiakim. That prophecy is recorded in chapter 36 and was a prophecy about the calamity God planned to bring against Israel and Judah. He’s despairing about 20 years down the road. Do you ever do that? Are you stressed about 2043 right now? It does show Baruch believed God so much that he was sorrowing so deeply about something God said would happen so far down the road. But for Baruch it meant he had no future. It’s hard seeing much for us when we’re in mourning.

So how does God respond to Baruch’s bitter prayer? Jeremiah 4-5.

God’s first response is I’m destroying my own work, so why should you seek great things for yourself? Do you think it’s difficult for God to curse His own creation? Some people can’t go to funerals because they’re so uncomfortable. They can’t go to hospitals. Death is not natural. It’s not supposed to be like that. I don’t believe God takes joy in death and decay, that wasn’t what He wanted for His creation. So why should we demand great things for ourselves while God is in the midst of uprooting and overthrowing? It’s like not following Jesus to the cross. I’m glad He did it, I’m not doing that though. God understands our suffering, do we understand His grief? Then in verse 5 God says, Jeremiah 45:5a. It’s coming for all of us. That’s on my mind as I think about what has happened to my brothers. Right now I want to be supportive, but I also do have some anxiety about what’s in store because I know I won’t be able to escape disaster either. Where is it going to come? Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. 2 Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:1-3) Thankfully the chapter ends with some good news – the Lord will allow Baruch to escape with his life. The Lord will allow us to escape with our lives. And I always think about the final ending of this universe when everything burns up that the only thing making out in one piece is the people of God. We alone will be God’s inheritance from this vast creation.

It’s not a time for wanting great things. It’s time to survive the inevitable disaster of the upheaval that’s occurring right now. There’s nothing for us here. 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

When Laura and I first moved here we began a study on church growth and went through this material in Bible class looking for what we need to build this church into something God is pleased with. And then Covid hit, and we like many went into survival mode it felt like. So we’re going to start again. This is material that Olin Hudson put together, who preached where I grew up in San Diego, and who passed away in Texas a few years ago. It focuses on what the book of Acts has to say about church growth.

Today we’ll be looking at lesson one, but let me show you the other lessons we’ll get to.

And then before we get to lesson one, let’s be reminded how the book of Acts breaks down. This is a survey chart of the book of Acts showing different ways the book can be outlined. The key verse in Acts is chapter 1:8. Why? Because the gospel begins in Jerusalem (chapters 1 until the persecution of Saul in chapter 8), then spreads to Judea and Samaria in 8-12, and then to the rest of the world. So chapters one through 7 focuses on Jerusalem. Let’s talk about some of the big events there. Chapter one? Jesus raised/Matthias/Apostles wait. Chapter two? Day of Pentecost, 3,000 converted. Chapter three/four? Lame man healed, persecution begins. Chapter 5? Ananias and Sapphira, apostles arrested. Chapter 6? Church conflict. Chapter 7? First martyr. Chapter 8? Saul persecutes the church, people go out teaching/Eunuch/Samaritans Chapter 9? Saul is converted/Peter goes out teaching. Chapter 10/11? Peter converts the first gentile. (Romans 1:16)/Antioch church Chapter 12? First apostle is killed, God gets vengeance. Chapter 13-15? First missionary journey to Galatia/Causes conflict Chapter 15-18? Second missionary journey to Macedonia Chapters 19-21? Third missionary journey/arrest of Paul The rest of the book? Paul’s trials, the gospel taught to kings and rulers, ends with Paul on trial. Does he get out? Yes!

So much growth!

So I’m going to read the text to get us started, and I would ask you to follow along as well, and here’s what we’re looking for as we’re reading. (READ)

So now let’s read, and I want you to be underlying observations that contributed to the Jerusalem church being such a fast growing church.

What do you see?

Top Five?

Please open your Bibles to John 5:1-15. We’re going to be talking this morning about a man who wanted to be made whole and believed it was possible to accomplish. John 5:1-15.

I remember years ago being introduced to this model that explains how change happens with people who are coming into therapy. It teaches that some people coming in aren’t even thinking about changing. They’re in the pre-contemptation phase. Maybe their parents or the courts made them come to counseling. I almost always ask parents who contact me about their child, “So, do they want to see me or do you want them to see me?” That’s important information for me. Or maybe they’re just wanting me to tell them life is impossible for them because of all their big problems so it’s not their fault.

In John chapter 15 verse 6, Jesus asked a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years, “Do you want to be made well?” And at first it seems like a crazy question to ask someone in his condition, but maybe it’s not so crazy. Many people don’t want to be made well. Do you? And before you say, “Yes, of course I want to be made well,” let me share some examples from the Bible of people who didn’t want to be healed spiritually to show how common it is and see if any of us relate to these people.

Cain didn’t want to be made well. After he offered his sacrifice to God and it was rejected while his brother Abel’s was accepted, God taught Cain how to overcome sin. He said, Genesis 4:6-7. So why didn’t that work? Well, because he didn’t see the problem inside himself. He saw a problem with his brother Abel, and the solution as to kill him. A lot of people think the problem is with what’s going on externally, and there’s not much we can do to help them. If we want to be made well we need to see that we’re the sick one.

Lamech, Cain’sggg grandson, did not want to be made well. Actually he seems pretty proud of the bad boy that he was. Genesis 4:23-24. Some people don’t want to be made well because they’re proud of their sins. They can make people respect us or fear us. And they can give us identity. Some people can’t even imagine who they would be as a good person, it’s scary even to think about it.

Pashhur didn’t want to be made well. He was a priest who hated Jeremiah because Jeremiah was so negative. In chapter 20, Pashhur had Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks for saying, Jeremiah 19:15. And then in chapter 38 Pashhur complained about Jeremiah’s negativity, Jeremiah 38:1, 4. Pashhur was more interested in maintaining peace and good appearances than talking about his own failures and the failures of his people.

I want to confess to a pet peeve of mine – the humble brag. It’s when somebody says something that sounds humble and relatable but is really trying to passively tell you how great they’re doing. Like this one: Or when friends say on Facebook things like, “LOL, I can’t believe we’re getting up again at 4 in the morning to drive the kids to the STEM national championships! I almost didn’t get my run in this morning!” Stop it.

Some people have to make sure things look good in their lives because they can’t stand having weaknesses and failures.

And then one other example, Judas didn’t want to be made well. You might recall that after He sold Jesus for some silver coins, the scriptures tell us that Judas went out and hung himself. And I’ve always thought, “How dumb is that? Now you’re just going straight to meet God for your crimes!” So why didn’t Judas even attempt to be made well? Peter did, after he denied Jesus three times, he repented and got well. But some people think it’s better to punish themselves than seek wholeness. I guess it feels better, it feels more just to be miserable because that’s what we deserve anyway, right? Who cares what God wants from us, it’s better to wallow in self-pity.

Some people do not want to be made well. But this paralyzed man did from John 5. And it didn’t matter to him that he’d been this way for 38 years. How many of us would have given up after 38 years of not getting better? Or that nobody’s helping him. Where are the people taking care of him? Why don’t they put him in the water? Maybe they don’t believe he can be made well. And it doesn’t matter that he’s been there all day, he hasn’t lost hope and he’s ready.

Some people don’t believe they can be made well. Do you? Maybe you don’t think you can because the problem isn’t you, it’s your environment, it’s the world around you, it’s your loved ones who need to change. Then you can have peace, then you can be made whole. That’s how Cain thought. That’s why he needed to kill Abel, because he was the problem. He probably would have killed God if he could for rejecting his perfectly fine offering.

Judas didn’t think he could be made whole. He knew he had sinned but it was too late for him, he thought. How do you recover from selling out the Lord for a few coins? That’s how people think who have no faith in God. Faith tells us that we are valuable enough to God for Him to heal us.

Israel didn’t think they could be made well because they felt God’s demands were too severe. Do you think God’s asking to much of you, is that why you can’t be made well? How many of us would have said, when Jesus commanded the paralyzed, “Get up, take up your bed and walk” – “Hey mister, I want you to think for a moment about what you just asked me, a paralytic, to do.” Is God asking too much of you to even think about getting well? Is he asking you to fly to heaven to come get better? Or cross the ocean to find the healing waters? 11 “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you could say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ 14 On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may follow it. Israel thought God was asking the impossible, let’s not make the same mistake.

The paralyzed man wanted to be made well, and when Jesus told Him what to do, he got up, took up his bed and walked. And I guess he decided to walk around all day with that bed because the Jewish leaders caught him carrying it on the Sabbath Day, which according to their rules he was not supposed to do, and got him in trouble. Verse 18 says they were so upset about this that they sought to kill Jesus because He broke the Sabbath by healing this man. They did not want to be made well, and they were not happy with this man whom Jesus healed.

Which leads to the final question: Will you take up your bed and walk? It will annoy people that you don’t care it’s impossible to be happy and whole in this world following the commands of Jesus. It will annoy people that you’re walking through life doing what He says, and they can’t deny that you’re walking and whole, and it will made them furious that you do not follow the rules of civil society.

So do you want to be made well? Or will you continue to let sin reign in you? Do you believe that you can be made whole? Or is it unthinkable that you could be righteous? And are you ready to take the step? If so, come forward this morning.

Good afternoon.

Tonight’s sermon will be a 1 Peter 3:15 sermon. 1 Peter 3:15. I will be talking about some things that have been researched and discovered more recently that defend our faith. I think a lot of people are under the impression that all of the scientific evidence coming in from all sources supports evolution and contradicts the Bible. But that’s not even close to being true, and as Christians we should probably be aware of some of the information that’s out there so that we can portray our faith as a reasonable faith rather than something we’ll hold to no matter the evidence.

So let’s start with the new telescope that the US sent into space last year, the James Webb, which is designed to see further away than anything that came before it. And the hope was scientists could see what the universe looked like right after the Big Bang when it was very young. Young galaxies and stars should look different from mature galaxies that are billions of years old. They shouldn’t be all nice and need and tidy like this one, the Andromeda galaxy, and should not be as bright and should still be in the process of creating all its early stars. The first generation of small galaxies was likely well in place 400 million years after the Big Bang. Following this initial phase of galaxy formation, galaxies then went through an extended phase of merging and coalescence with other galaxies, whereby they built up from masses of several thousand solar masses to billions of solar masses. This buildup process extended until the universe was roughly two billion years old. Then, due to some feedback process -- now predominantly speculated to be AGN feedback -- it is thought that this buildup process halted and gas accretion and star formation in the most massive galaxies halted and galaxies underwent a much different form of evolution. This later evolution continues to the present day. By the way, this is our closet mature neighbor galaxy to the Milky Way, the Andromeda. It’s the only thing outside of our galaxy that can be seen without a telescope. Although several dozen minor galaxies lie closer to our Milky Way, the Andromeda galaxy is the closest large spiral galaxy to ours. Excluding the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, visible from Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, the Andromeda galaxy is the brightest external galaxy you can see. At 2.5 million light-years, it’s the most distant thing most of us humans can see with the unaided eye. How far away from us would you get it is? 2.5 million light years away. How many galaxies are estimated that God created in the universe? Remember that each galaxy has on average 100 billion stars. About 2 trillion. And that number might be going up with how many are being discovered by James Webb.

Things are not how they are supposed to be.

The first stars aren’t being found, but scientists are really hoping they’re out there somewhere. But the evidence being discovered is not matching up with expectations for evolution. No matter how far we look back in history, everything looks mature.

Let’s talk about archaeology for a few minutes. This is Jacob’s Well. John talks about it in John 4. It is often considered the most authentic site in the Holy Land — since no one can move a well that was originally more than 40 metres deep. Jewish, Samaritan, Christian and Muslim traditions all associate the well with Jacob. The location, at the entrance to a mountain pass between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, is 2km east of Nablus. It is near the archaeological site of Tell Balata — thought to be the biblical Shechem — and about 63km north of Jerusalem. It was at Shechem that the patriarch Jacob bought “the land on which he had pitched his tent” (Genesis 33:19). For long the well was unprotected, opening among the ruins of a vaulted chamber some feet below the surface of the ground. Major Anderson describes it (Recovery of Jerusalem, 465) as having "a narrow opening, just wide enough to allow the body of a man to pass through with arms uplifted, and this narrow neck, which is about 4 ft. long, opens into the well itself, which is cylindrically shaped, and about 7 ft. 6 inches in diameter. The mouth and upper part of the well are built of masonry, and the well appears to have been sunk through a mixture of alluvial soil and limestone fragments, till a compact bed of mountain limestone was reached, having horizontal strata which could be easily worked; and the interior of the well presents the appearance of having been lined throughout with rough masonry." The depth was doubtless much greater in ancient times; but much rubbish has fallen into it, and now it is not more than 75 ft. deep. It is fed by no spring, nor is the water conducted to it along the surface, as to a cistern. Its supplies depend entirely upon rainfall and percolation. Possibly, therefore, the water may never have approached the brim. The woman says "the well is deep." Pege, "spring," does not, therefore, strictly apply to it, but rather "tank" or "reservoir," phrear, the word actually used in verses 11 f. The modern inhabitants of Nablus highly esteem the "light" water of the well as compared with the "heavy" or "hard" water of the neighboring springs. It usually lasts till about the end of May; then the well is dry till the return of the rain. Its contents, therefore, differ from the "living" water of the perennial spring.

An old slab dated 2900 years old was discovered to have King David’s name on it. He reigned from 1010-970, so it’s almost contemporary to his time. Why is this significant? Because the narrative of unbelievers is that the Bible is a myth and David never existed. So it’s a “huh” moment for them to actually find he is a real person.

Here’s a picture of it. New techniques for reading the unreadable are being developed, which gives more weight to the Bible.

Researchers say they have deciphered a 3,000-year-old formulaic curse inscription recovered on a small, folded lead amulet found on Mount Ebal, making it the oldest proto-Hebrew text ever found in Israel. In the 23-word English translation of the inscription, the word “curse” appears 10 times and the word “YHWH,” the biblical spelling of God’s name, appears twice, the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) said in a press conference on Thursday night. “Cursed, cursed, cursed – cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW – cursed, cursed, cursed.”

Numbers 6:24-26 Ketef Hinnom scroll 600 BC Didn’t realize the Bible is that Old, thought was written while in Babylonian captivity.

Found in Israel – horde of Giant weapons. Found at Manash in Israel. The report compares the outsized weapons to other weapons in the Ancient Near East (ANE) (average spearheads of this period may be around 6–7cm long13) but then concludes: “In the case of the Monash spears, however, their unusual size and weight would appear to be an obstacle rather than an aid to anyone carrying them.”9 That is of course, assuming someone of average height and strength. Dismissing the possibility of giant humans, the report then speculates as to the spear’s function, not as weapons, but as large tent poles: “Because of its size, the powerful spear would be suitable as a tent pole. Not only would it be heavy enough to hold the weight, but it would symbolize the might and strength of the owner.”

Canaanite child sacrifice

Rituals. Axe marks on necks Antiquity of the amorites. According to the Bible, centers of worship for Canaanite gods such as Molech and the Baal’s were set up in Judah and Israel by apostate kings. Child sacrifice was even practiced in the Valley of Hinnom just outside of Jerusalem. Yet religious reformers such as King Josiah pulled down these places and rendered them unfit for use, “ He also made unfit for worship Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. ” (2 Kings 23:10) So it is no surprise that these sites which Josiah sought to erase have not been positively identified. Other Canaanite places of worship in Israel that have been identified have not yet yielded evidence of child sacrifice.*(see footnote) Yet absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There is good reason to believe the Bible did not exaggerate Canaanite barbarism.

Neanderthals were not primitive. They were artistic Ate delicacies Had babies with humans They were humans it turns out, just a little weird looking maybe for our taste.

One of the coolest points of research happening over the last several years to me regarding Bible history is tracing genetics. DNA is certainly not showing what was theorized it would show in a lot of ways for evolution,

Already there is a push to rewrite much of what was known before DNA evidence came to light.

And this book is working to trace modern day humans back to Noah and his three sons, showing how we are all descended from them just a few thousand years ago as the Bible indicates.

There’s so much more than I knew about how Noah’s descendants spread out across the world in the early days. Mizraim was the founder of Egypt, for example. Which is an ancient name for Egypt and what Israel called it.

And one puzzle to world history is that it seems like great civilizations just popped up out of nowhere, and it seems like they all had great knowledge immediately to build empires, And they all wanted to build huge structures for some reason, called Megaliths. They’re all over the world, not just in Egypt. It seems like our ancestors failed in Babel, so when God spread them out they built them in other places.

6/18/2023 Good afternoon.

Tonight’s sermon will be another 1 Peter 3:15 sermon. 1 Peter 3:15. I want to remind you that the theory of evolution is just that, a theory, and that it’s constantly changing and evolving itself because new information is constantly coming in that challenges its narrative, and I want to share a few of those facts tonight.

Romans 7:15-20. I’ve never heard a Christian say they don’t relate to this scripture. We feel pulled in two different directions. There’s a therapeutic approach that says there are multiple parts in each one of us. It’s called internal family systems, and the idea is that we kinda each have a family of parts in us – one part of us wants this while another part of us wants that. And our job is to recognize those different parts of us and help them cooperate a little better. Biblically speaking, some of those parts need to go. Some of them need to be killed off. We have an unhealthy mix of good and bad inside of us, and God is working to unmix us, and that Biblical word for that process is purity.

Do you remember when God was planning on meeting Israel at Mount Sinai what they had to do first before He came? Exodus 19:10-15 So even before God gave them the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, the prerequisite was purity. Before He gave them the rules for sacrifices and worship and Holy Days and the command to love one another, He wouldn’t give them those commands until they purified themselves. I was trying to think of an illustration for this, and I thought about living in the arctic, and your house has run out of food and water, and your neighbor has some supplies down the street that you can have if you come get them, the problem is it’s -70 outside. So how are you going to go get them? To get what you need first you’re going to have to put on what you need to survive the cold. To get what we need from God, the rules, the system of forgiveness, whatever it is, we need to come before Him in purity. We do our part, and then He finished the job: 2 Corinthians 11:2, Hebrews 10:22, Ephesians 5:26 Christ’s singular goal with His people is to present them clean and pure to His Father. What is it going to take to get purity up as high on our priority list as it is for God?

2 Corinthians 11:2

Ephesians 5:25

Hebrews 10:22

It May Help Us To Start By Studying Just Exactly What Purity Is Many people, including Christians, misunderstand Biblical purity. Titus 1:15 Some people’s misunderstanding displays itself in their critical reactions to the suggestion that we should purify ourselves. 2 Peter 1:9 Some Christians reveal their misunderstanding by doing little to purify themselves after baptism. The greatest evidence of misunderstanding is that those same people express praise and desire for purity in many ways even while reacting critically to Biblical purity. Revelation 21:18, 22:1, Psalm 12:6, Ephesians 5:26 Purity is most people’s most important guage for high quality. Proverbs 22:11 People love those who have pure hearts because they can be trusted. Nearly everyone is trying to purify themselves in one way or another! Impurity is the mixture of light and darkness; purity is homogeneity. Luke 6:13, James 4:8, 1 John 1:5 Impurity does not mean “all bad”, but some good and some bad. Daniel 1:8, Job 31:1, Matthew 5:27-30 “To purify ourselves” is to remove every speck of bad, and then establish barriers to prevent any sort of impurity from mixing into us. 1 Corinthians 6:12, 10:23 We can find good in nearly anything, but that does not make it pure, and it does not mean we won’t be affected by it.

So what is purity then? I found this picture online of what is called a homogenous forest. It’s a forest where you have just one kind of tree. It would be pretty to walk in. Purity means one kind. 100% pure gold means it doesn’t have any other kinds of metals in it. And so a pure Christian is one that is absent of evil. So purity doesn’t mean a good person or a pretty good person, it means a person absent of evil.

If we’re the sort of people who settle for being mostly good – Yeah I have my vices but I have faith. Or I’m not perfect but I’m forgiven – That attitude doesn’t work and it’s not Biblical. Paul teaches in Titus chapter one that some impurity messes everything up. Titus 1:15. Of course we’re going to sin, 1 John 2:1 says if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves. But we’d better not settle. We can’t be OK with the vices that we have, and we need to confess them before God and work to remove them. Daniel 1:8, Job 31:1, Matthew 5:27-30 “To purify ourselves” is to remove every speck of bad, and then establish barriers to prevent any sort of impurity from mixing into us. 1 Corinthians 6:12, 10:23 We can find good in nearly anything, but that does not make it pure, and it does not mean we won’t be affected by it.

James 4:8. Doesn’t this verse remind you of Israel at Mount Sinai?

1 John 1:5 It’s really impressive how Satan was able to take light, because that’s all he had to work with from the beginning, And figure out a way to turn it into a temptation, isn’t it? Every sin and temptation is at its core made from the goodness and blessings of God and then twisted and mixed until it becomes harmful to us.

He took sexuality and added a little of himself and created sexual immorality. He took worship and turned it into idolatry. Communication became strife, Emotion became outbursts of anger, Alcohol became drunkenness and carousing.

We need to get things back to their pure forms within us.

And when we were baptized, God did purify us completely. And if that was important to us we’ll protect it. I’ve been talking to this mom who’s going crazy because she buys things for her teenage kids and they don’t take care of them. They leave the football at the park. The makeup is everywhere in the house. The clothes are lost in the closet. How much do we value the gift of forgiveness God provided for us? If we do value it, and we haven’t forgotten what He’s done for us, then we’ll protect it with things that will keep the impurities out. 2 Peter 1:5-9.

We’ll make covenants with ourselves not to put ourselves in situations where we do defile ourselves, like Daniel did when he went to Babylon. We’ll not even look at a woman to lust after her, let alone physically cross those lines, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the mount.

And we might even avoid things that are OK or have a lot of good in them because we’re concerned being around certain things that are only 90% pure. That 10% might get us. 1 Corinthians 6:12. And I’m not sure this means avoid books and movies unless they are 100% wholesome. I know Paul read the Greek philosophers of his time and they weren’t all great. But you do need to know your own impurities and your vulnerabilities because 99.9% pure is still impure.

In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives little animal called the ermine, valued for their snow-white fur in winter. Hunters don’t need to set traps for the animal - they just set down barriers of mud and dirt, because the Ermine will not risk getting its coat dirty – they’d rather risk death. That’s how we should be. It’s worth whatever it costs. So let’s not settle for good, let’s strive for pure, and God will meet us in those efforts.

Good morning. I have a client that I’m working with who is having problems today with anxiety and depression, and who is starting to tell me her background. Her parents were drug users, so she was taken from them and put into a foster home. Her foster parents locked her in her room for a week until child welfare finally got wind of it and took her out and sent her to a home for girls, who kept putting her in solitary confinement for long stretches. As a teenager she left and slept on friend’s couches and found a guy and got pregnant and it turns out he was a bad guy and hurt her and took their child from her and took off to Mexico. And she has so many horror stories, and they just make me think, “How sad is it that so many people have no idea what it’s like to have a caring mom and dad and be raised in a stable home that is safe and meets their needs. That should just be the right of all children to have that. How sad is it that people don’t know about the church of Christ. Not that they haven’t heard about it but they don’t know how good it is. And they don’t understand the grace and peace that’s found being a part of it. I don’t think God’s people are always as helpful as we need to be, either. Sometimes we forget how special it is. Sometimes we talk about it like it’s a problematic thing. “I don’t know about the church today, it’s not what it used to be.” “The church sure does have a lot of bad elements in it compared to the past.” I’ve heard so many people over the years say they want to have a relationship with Jesus but not the church, and I understand why they might say that because they don’t see how awesome it is.

Whoever wrote this son, I think, understand how awesome the church is.

This is a song taken from the images in Hebrews chapter 12 of the church that we have come to be a part of. Read with me beginning in verse 1 and notice the message is not to lose heart. And ultimately the reason we shouldn’t lose heart is because look at what it means to be a part of this church. Hebrews 12:1-24. Do you see where we stand? At the base of Mount Zion with the angels in festal gathering? Together with God and Jesus in the city, and all of the spirits of the righteous made perfect along with us, and this isn’t where we’re going it’s where we’ve come to. But people don’t see that.

They don’t see that the church is God displaying His wisdom to the universe. Ephesians 3. 7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in[b] God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. He has a lot of things to choose from to show these rulers and authorities His wisdom. Maybe the vast universe. Or the angels that He made, they’re awesome no doubt. Or maybe heaven itself – I think a glimpse of that would cause them to faint. But there’s something more wonderful than those things that shows off the wisdom of God, And if that’s hard to believe then we’re probably not fully grasping what the church is.

The church isn’t the dumpster fire of denominations and divisions that many people imagine it to be in our country today. It’s separate from all that, and uncontaminated and still perfect and filled only with the spirit of the righteous made perfect. The gates of hades still haven’t prevailed against it. When Jesus taught about the church in His parables, describing it there as the Kingdom of Heaven, He was sharing the longings of God from a time before the universe was created. It’s always been God’s dream to build His church.

And when His work is all finished and He tears back down the universe, the only thing that will outlast all of this work He’s done is the church. Hebrews 12:26-28. So everything’s about the church, and it’s the one thing He wants to keep out of all of this. What would you keep? For God, only the church is important. So what’s so special about it? Let’s look at a few verses that describe it.

It’s the Kingdom to rule all other Kingdoms. Psalm 2:1-9.

Daniel 2:44 says . . . And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

And it’s the last remnant of the line of men who trust in the Lord.

It’s full of gentle and kind people with pure hearts, Matthew 5:3-10.

What’s so great about the church? It’s the part of Creation that God dreamt about before He made the heavens and the earth and knew it would be the only thing that outlasted it. It’s the best of man and the greatest of all Kingdoms It’s full of people being made perfect. And it’s the place where heaven and earth converge, where men and angels worship together and assemble at the city of God. And it doesn’t drift, and it’s not in danger of falling or failing. And you get to be a part of that. So . . . Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.“ Come join the song.

Good morning, happy mother’s day! I remember years ago when there was a big debate in our country about same-sex marriages that many Christians were struggling with that issue and it became time for us as a church to address it. And then a few years ago there were problems across the country involving race relations, when black lives matter was a big thing, and so our congregation addressed that, even scheduling a gospel meeting to discuss the topic Biblically. And today there’s another issue that has been creeping into our culture and seems to have exploded over the last few years, and I know brethren are wondering again, how do we handle this issue as people who are trying to obey God? There’s pressure on us to change our language. We have to be careful what we say about this issue or risk being called names. And the issue only keeps growing, and it’s not going away and it’s threatening to affect us all. And I’m talking about the transgender issue, and then more broadly the LGBTQ++ community. What does the Bible have to say about it, and how are we supposed to handle ourselves in a culture where we are on the unpopular side of this issue? So let’s take a look.

I saw this graphic recently that highlights the problem occurring in our country. In 2012 there were about 3.5% of the population identifying as part of the LGBT community. And that number was up to 7.2% as of last year, but notice the percentages among the next generation who see themselves as non-binary. Almost 20%. So 1 in 5 people that our kids and their kids will be growing up with will consider themselves something other than a man or a woman who is attracted to someone of the opposite sex. It’s such a huge jump and will almost certainly then be affecting our churches over the next several decades as well.

Now there are theories about why so many more people today are considering themselves non-binary, from both sides of the issue. But I’m going to suggest that it comes down to the fact that our country’s morals and values are changing.

One of the biggest changes is a believe that everyone has their truth, and other people’s truths and realities can’t be questioned. Today in our culture it’s ignorant to say there is a single standard of truth that everyone should follow. Let me read you a story to illustrate. (Read)

So it illustrates a value that has become so important to our culture, which is that everyone has their own truths. If a person with a male body believes they are a woman, we must accept it, because that is their truth and they know their truth better than anybody else. That’s the values of our culture. And then the second moral value in our country is that disagreeing with someone’s truth can be extremely harmful to them.

Here’s one example of the value of not harming people with your truth. Many parents of children with gender dysphoria are being pressured to transition their kids by this threatening language: “Do you want a dead daughter or an alive son?” In other words, if you don’t allow your daughter to change into a boy she will likely commit suicide. Now the suicide rate is very high among people with gender dysphoria and we will talk about that, but my point is that these threats of harm prevent us from seeking truth. We are required to shut up and allow people to believe what they want so that we don’t harm them. So truth is barricaded behind these threats.

The same truth applies to using other people’s pronouns. If we don’t accept their truth by calling people what they want to be called we are being harmful.

These are the values that affect the growth of this movement.

But what does the Bible teach us about issues like transgenderism and the non-binary culture?

I can say that the Bible teaches there’s just one absolute truth, and it’s God’s truth, and so we don’t all have our truths. John 17:17.

Proverbs 3:5. And what is that truth?

That God created us male and female. Men and women were to be fruitful and multiply. That was God’s first command in the Bible. And God wants men to be men and women to be women and maintain those distinctions. I think about God’s creation of Eve to be Adam’s helper.

Or this Old Testament passage in Deuteronomy about maintaining our distinctions. Deuteronomy 22:5.

There are well-defined roles for women in scripture and well-defined roles for men – as husbands and elders and keeping the home. Now when we get to heaven, things will change here. We’ll become like the angels, Jesus said in Matthew 22:30. There will no longer be such thing as marriage. It makes me think that at the level of the soul we are all the same, just souls placed in physical bodies to obey God in our roles until the resurrection. It’s just the luck of the draw what kind of body we ended up with, but the bottom line is if we’re in a male body we accept our role and path as male servants of God, and if we’re in female bodies we accept our role and path as female servants of God and do our best to please him in that capacity.

So what do we do if we don’t feel like we belong in the body that we have? Can you imagine what it must be like for people who feel like they’re in the wrong body? I can’t imagine that. I know it’s a thing. I have clients with that experience. I have clients seeking to please God who feel that way, and it is suffering for them. 40% have attempted suicide, 82% have considered it. And the pressure on people with gender dysphoria now is to take hormones and have surgery to change their bodies and they are promised a relief from the suffering. But that’s not what God teaches.

God says trust Him. I don’t have gender dysphoria, but I do understand about wanting things that I’m not allowed to have. And I understand having to struggle, I talked about that some on Wednesday. How many of you feel like the thing that would make you happy and bring you peace is just out of reach? A lot of us.

And I know Jesus says this, Mark 8:34. If you’re a real Christian, then you’re not living the life you believed was the right one for you. You’re living the life you believe God wants you to live.

I heard a story from Jerry Seinfeld yesterday about how distasteful a normal life is for many people – being married and having kids and eating dinner together every night and living the 9-5 every day and doing all the things you’re supposed to do. I don’t live for myself, but I trust God that if I live the way He says I will be blessed and peaceful, and if I pursue what I want I’m going to be miserable.

Finally, how should we as Christians interact with people in the LGBT world?

In Bible days, some became Christians somehow, according to 1 Corinthians 6. So I think that implies that God’s people influenced them and taught them and brought them along.

I think it’s difficult for Christians because we feel like we need to send a message loud and clear that this is wrong, that the first thing everybody needs to know from us is it’s sin. And so if we are seen talking to someone who is part of this culture, or interact with them or have them to our house, then we are condoning sin. But we saw last week that we need to associate with people of the world who are struggling with sin.

Maybe we need to do a better job distinguishing between the movement and society as a whole and the individuals who are part of the movement, and so burdened that many want to end their lives, and are seeking God but don’t know it. There are wonderful people who are part of that culture, who are easy to love and respect and who need someone to find them and show them the truth.

I’m reminded of the Lord’s word to Paul while he was in Corinth finding people in that realm to bring the good news of the gospel to. Acts 18:9-10 I have many people in the LGBT community, the Lord would say to us. It’s dangerous work but we should not be afraid to speak to them.

Good morning.

Take a look at these verses with me if you would and notice what they all have in common.

Clearly God was serious about purging evil from among the Israelites back in the Old Testament days, from false prophets to the promiscuous to the presumptuous, they were not allowed to remain in the camp.

And these are the verses quoted in 1 Corinthians 5:13, where we also as God’s church are commanded to purge evil from our community as well. 1 Corinthians 5:13. It’s just as important now as it was back in the wilderness that we maintain our purity as the people of God. If we don’t deal with sin in our midst then the scripture says we are arrogant.

We’re going to be looking at chapter five of 1 Corinthians, but I want to show that the problem Paul has been addressing all this time leading up to this chapter isn’t accepting sin but it’s arrogance. The accepting of sin is just another indicator of arrogance. In chapter one the Corinthians had a problem with division – 1 Corinthians 1:10 And from then on he focuses his message on overcoming humility. 1 Corinthians 1:18-19. Chapter two shows Paul’s efforts to be humble in his preaching so they didn’t glory in his human wisdom – 1 Corinthians 2:3-5. And then in chapter three he warns them not to think of themselves as wise, 1 Corinthians 3:18. And then all of chapter four works to knock them down a few notches: You’re puffed up, Paul says in verse 6. You think you’re above the apostles, verses 8-10. And in verse 18 Paul comes right out and says that some of them have become arrogant.

And that is still his criticism in chapter five. Paul accuses them of being arrogant in verse 2. 1 Corinthians 5:2 And of being boastful in verse 6. 1 Corinthians 5:6. So now with that context established, read with me beginning in verse 1. 1 Corinthians 5:1-8. So what we need to understand from this passage is that it is arrogant of us as a church to be OK with sin in our midst.

And let’s pause for a moment and consider why it was arrogant of the Corinthians to be accepting of sin in their midst. It might have been because Paul had already told them some time before this not to do it, but they seemed to think they knew better. In verse 9 Paul reminds them he had already told them not to associate with the sexually immoral. 1 Corinthians 9:5. So he had written about this problem already at some point and they did nothing. It reminds me of what Paul said to them back in chapter 4. 1 Corinthians 4:10. If we have it written in God’s word and we do nothing about it, we are arrogant. Or maybe the Corinthians thought they knew better than the Israelites in the wilderness who were taught to be scared of having sin in their midst. Do you remember how many times they were warned to purge sin from their midst in the book of Deuteronomy? And Paul reminds them of this in verse 13 as well. Are we less vulnerable than other people when it comes to sin? We can be around it and we’ll be OK while others are weaker and need to be more careful?

Doesn’t it remind you of this verse in Galatians 6? Galatians 6:1. Paul goes on to say be careful not to think you’re something that you’re not.

It may have also been a source of pride for the Corinthians that they were more tolerant than other people. They are tolerating something here that not even the gentiles could, and they’re not upset about it at all. Being accepting and tolerant of sin is arrogant and prideful. That’s a little hard to swallow because it seems backwards in our world. It seems like the people who are overbearingly harsh and judgmental are the prideful ones, doesn’t it? And the accepting ones are the humble ones who don’t think they’re better than other people. So let’s be careful to learn this lesson and show our humility be fearing God and sin and dealing with it.

The humble thing to do instead is to first to grieve that we have sin in our midst, And then remove them from our community, which is the idea of delivering them to Satan. Remove the protection of the community from them, remove the leaven that is in danger of infecting the whole, and let them live their sin in the presence of Satan instead. And who should we be looking to cast out? Well, Paul specifies some of those sins. 1 Corinthians 5:11. Which almost seems like the bar is set so low, doesn’t it? The greedy? The verbally abusive? But it tells us how serious the job must be of maintaining our purity.

And that can be so disruptive when we purge. I’ve been a part of disciplinary proceedings in churches several times before and there’s always so much hurt and frustration that happens as we hold the church to this high standard. But we shouldn’t be afraid of getting rid of the old and becoming something new when necessary. Whatever that new thing we become is afterword is good and pure and wonderful, And hopefully it brings back our erring brother as well.

And then we also stop associating with this brother who is caught up in their sin. They are to be removed from our midst.

Before we close let me provide some balance to our efforts at purging sin. There were lots of sins Paul addressed in his letter where he did not demand the church cast these people out. Probably if he did the whole church would be gone. He condemns them for division, for being worldly, for being arrogant, and suing each other in court, and thinking all things are lawful for them, and making a mockery of the Lord’s supper while being drunk, and not believing in the resurrection of the dead apparently in chapter 15. So we need to have wisdom in our efforts towards purity, knowing when to rebuke and teach and be patient while also establishing a culture of absolute holiness and purity where everyone understands that sin is wrong and not tolerated. May God bless us with wisdom to be the church He wants us to be.

Meanwhile, what you can do is purify yourselves. I’ll bet you have some leaven that needs to go. Get to work on it, the impure thoughts, the impure words, the worldliness, God wants no part of that here and we need to be a church that fears it and humbles ourselves and eradicates it from everywhere we find it. And if we are struggling to get it removed, it’s time to seek help. Confess your sins to one another. Repent and be baptized.

We’re going to talk tonight about how to deal with fallen Christians. It’s a subject that I’ve struggled with over the years because it is such a difficult subject. Some passages seem to be very formulaic, but then others provide different ways of handling situations, And then other passages teach principles that we have to work in that seem contrary in some ways to the teachings of God. So it’s a hard subject. So let’s go through the passages.

Starting in Matthew 18, which begins by describing the job as a rescue operation – sheep that were part of the fold but strayed away need to be found again.

James teaches this at the end of his letter, James 5:19-20.

So does Galatians 6. So how do we win them back? Do we stay as far away from them as possible? That’s what it sounds like in some passages, but here it sounds like we need to go after them. To what degree should we avoid our family members who are caught up in sin and to what degree should we go after them? It’s tricky.

So while some passages indicate that we are to go after lost brethren, others seem to indicate that we distance ourselves from them. There’s even a progression described in Matthew 18 of going after them at first until they refuse to listen. Matthew 18:15-17. So what’s the progression? (Explain) Finally, they become to us like a pagan or a tax collector. That’s bad, right? What does that mean? I think about how Jesus treated pagans and tax collectors, and actually He was pretty nice to them. He just didn’t consider them saved and put them in a category of people who need to accept the truth. I suppose that’s what Jesus means here – we need to acknowledge this person who was our brother is now like the rest of the world that we need to convince of the truth of the gospel, which might not be possible:

Hebrews 6:4-6.

And then there’s 1 Corinthians chapter five teaching us to withdraw ourselves from sinful brethren. 1 Corinthians 5:1-5. But the context here is important – a whole church accepting openly a terrible sin. If we are accepting sin in our midst, then our repentance is to send a message that we won’t associate with this, and we are not OK with your sin. Which is a different situation I think than a brother stops associating with us (as often happens) and no one knows where they are or what they’re doing, and then we send a letter that we are no longer going to associated with them, which makes no sense since we weren’t anyways. So we can’t ever make people think we’re OK with sin. And some of this chapter goes beyond simply what the church is supposed to do and focuses on what we are supposed to do individually, like down in verse 9. 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. Don’t send the wrong message to people. I think this is about messaging. They need to know where you stand, other people need to know where you stand. What are you OK with and not OK with? What do you accept and not accept? I think we need to be careful when working with lost Christians to think there’s a formulaic approach to what we do. Instead, the Bible provides wisdom and we must apply it.

Hebrews 5:14. One time Paul saw Peter sinning and called him out on it in front of everybody. Do you remember that? Galatians 2. Another time Aquila and Priscilla heard Apollos teaching false doctrine and then took him aside privately instead of challenging his error in front of everybody. Paul wrote letters calling out people’s sin to brethren in far-off places, indicating there are times we in Grand Junction need to talk about the sins of somebody else in Denver, and that’s OK.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the father provided his son everything he asked for to leave despite knowing it wasn’t going to be for good purposes. And then before his son had an opportunity to repent, the father welcomed him back in love and threw him a feast. Probably not the way many brethren would approach repentance of family. I think many of us would wait to see more first, to hear more first, maybe arrange a letter to be written or amends to be made. We would probably be more like the brother actually in the story.

So I don’t believe there are cut and dry answers for every situation regarding how to win the erring. I think it’s one of the toughest things we are to work out as Christians. We need to accept our responsibility to . . . (1-3) But then we also need to maintain our other responsibilities as parents and siblings and family members. For example, if my mom and dad become unfaithful I can’t turn that into Corban like the Jews did. It is still my responsibility to care for them, 1 Timothy 5. My son is not following God, but he’s still my son, and I have responsibilities to him to make sure he’s healthy and learning how to navigate life and offer advice and love him, While still teaching and influencing spiritually, and maintain my boundaries. I will not participate in sin with him and I will not allow him to bring sin into my home. (Letha’s example – bringing it into my home) – who would you have into your home? Jesus went to Matthew’s home, a Pharisee’s home, there were probably some things that were not right happening in those homes, maybe a bad word slipping out or a level of hypocrisy that was unacceptable at Simon’s home. We have ungodly people into our homes and they’ve probably done or said things that were not OK. We need to balance between doing our jobs as family members, not tolerating sin and maintaining opportunities to love and be influential on our family members.

And follow the scriptures and use them to work out other difficult situations as they come.

Good morning. We’re looking at David’s sin this morning to see how easy it is to go from doing well one second to being in big spiritual trouble the next. And then tonight we’ll be talking about working with fallen Christians.

The Bible warns: 1 Corinthians 10:12.

I don’t know if David was overconfident when he fell with Bathsheba, but I doubt anybody thought he was in trouble at that point in his life. Because he was doing so well in every way.

Look with me at all the great godly things David had just done. The sin with Bathsheba is in chapter 11, so start with me in chapter 1. Here, David honors and weeps for King Saul, the man who has been trying to kill him the last decade. And he gives his enemy this beautiful tribute: 2 Samuel 1:1, 11, 17-24. Have you ever been to a funeral where the guy who had passed away was not a godly person at all, but then the preacher doing the funeral talks about them like they were the best person who ever lived? That’s David here, so I guess it’s OK to do it. Next David moved to Hebron to take his place as God’s chosen King over Israel. But even though he’s the one God chose, a son of Saul named Ishbosheth opposes him and establishes himself as King. But David’s so patient, and he acts kindly towards him, and honors him until God removes him and gives the Kingdom entirely to David.

And then, once Ishbosheth’s out of the way, David is blessed with peace. And he wants to show God his gratitude, and so he asks to build the temple, though God says no, but it was nice to ask.

And then David felt like doing something nice for King Saul, for the sake of Jonathan. Which he does over in chapter 9. And then he seeks out another opportunity to be kind in chapter 10 with the son of an Ammonite King who had earlier helped him.

So David’s being so righteous in his life going into chapter 11. There’s no way the devil could get David to fall at this point, he’s being the perfect man of God. So what happened then?

So take a look with me at the chapter. And notice that David’s behavior is odd here. First, 2 Samuel 11:1 says . . . 2 Samuel 11:1. Now I don’t know why he stayed home. But I know it was unusual enough for the scriptures to include that little fact. And I know Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba didn’t stay home, and when David called him home from the battle he wouldn’t come. 2 Samuel 11:6-13. Also. David’s military captain Joab had to embarrass him a little to get him back to the battlefield. 2 Samuel 12:26-29. And I know that if David was there he would not have been tempted to take Bathsheba! The lesson is that we need to be where we’re supposed to be.

Proverbs 4:26 says . . . David’s sin started with the choices he made prior to the adultery, and our sins start earlier than we think as well.

The second thing that’s strange about this day for David is that he got up out of bed in the afternoon. 2 Samuel 11:2. What time do you think this was? I guess at first I thought this must be 2 in the morning, like maybe David couldn’t sleep and so he got up in the middle of the night. But then why would Bathsheba be taking a bath at 2 AM? The commentaries I read indicate that the Jewish evening began at 3 PM. He was in bed before evening, and then he got up in the evening. Now I don’t know why David was in bed that day. He wasn’t sick, given what he did next. Also, he was healthy enough for war as we saw in chapter 12. Maybe he was just taking a nap. But everything about this event seems out of character with David, out of the norm. It sure seems like idleness is getting the man after God’s heart. Now the last time David took an evening walk, his gaze was upward: Psalm 8. Today he does not have praise in mind. In chapter 7, David contemplated everything God had given to him, saying 2 Samuel 7:18. But now in chapter 11 he’s thinking about the things that God has not given to him. Do you spend more time thinking about all the things that you have or everything that you do not have? (Repeat) We’re making ourselves vulnerable if we’re looking down.

And then the next thing he does seems totally out of character for him: David was able to find people willing to help him sin. 2 Samuel 11:3-4. Who are these people? How did they even get hired into David’s entourage, given their lack of morals? Early on David was surrounded by the dregs of society, when he was running from Saul. They were attracted to him. But I have a hard time seeing David hiring people like this now. Do you think if David was one of those servants that he would have brought the King another man’s wife? I don’t think so. But somehow he knew who he could get to help him sin. And I’ll bet we do, too. I know who to call to tell me what I want to hear, don’t you? If I want an honest opinion, I’ll ask Laura. But if I want to just feel good, I know the people who will always tell me I did great. My mom always took my side as a kid, like she didn’t want to believe I could do anything wrong ( busdriver, Ati) Some people will help you find the sin that you crave to do. Do you know who they are? You need to get them out of your life, because one day you’re gonna call them.

So David stayed home, and he paid for it for the rest of his life. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and got her pregnant. Then he deceived Uriah her husband, got others in on his conspiracy, killed Uriah and stole his wife. All of the great things he had done before that moment we don’t even talk about. And it all started with a decision that seemed barely wrong at the time, leading to his entire life falling apart.

It doesn’t take much. Which is why the New Testament tells us 11 times to be on our guard. 1 Corinthians 16:13. So what can we do when we’ve gotten ourselves into a bad situation like King David did? Where we know we have drifted away from the Lord in a big way? Well let’s conclude by looking at four things David did that got him back on the right track after this really bad day.

Number one, he became odious to himself, with help from the prophet Nathan. 2 Samuel 12:1-7. If we need to make changes, and they’re not happening, it’ll help if we spend more time in the mirror of God’s Word so that we can see ourselves as we truly are, as Paul says: Romans 3:9ff.

Second, he accepted the consequences of his sin, 12:7-13. It’s hard to get mad at God about anything He takes from us if we felt like we didn’t deserve those things in the first place. Accept whatever consequences are coming for your sin. That’s the sign of a changed heart.

Third, he made restitution as he could. Have you ever thought about the fact that David made Bathsheba’s son, of all his other sons, heir to the throne? The more I think about the fact that Solomon became the next king, the more amazing it is that David would give the throne to the son of his affair. He had many other sons who didn’t get the throne because of it. Amnon was his first-born. But he was killed. But the second born was Daniel, who was also called Chileab, which was Abigail’s son. She was a good woman. Why not her son? He was older. Adonijah, the fourth-born, thought he was supposed to be king and he led a revolt for it. Solomon becoming king was perhaps his restitution for this great wrong.

And then finally David turned himself over to the will of the Father. You see that in Him when he pleaded with God for the life of the child that he conceived with Bathsheba, 12:15-17. And then you see it when he accepts God’s decision to allow the child’s death as he displays through worship, 12:19-20. It’s sort of like committing a crime and then doing the right thing and turning yourself over to the legal system. You turn yourself over to God and put your life back in his hands. Let him mold it and decide for it, while we praise Him for the decisions He makes with our lives.

Have you fallen into sin? After all the good that you’ve done, which by the way God has not forgotten (Hebrews 6:10). It doesn’t take much to fall deeply into trouble, does it? One wrong step here or there and we’re stuck. But if you’re willing to return, God will let you find Him.

2 Corinthians 13:11-14. There are many commands in the Bible that, for one reason or another we decide are not for us to follow. Like the command in 1 Timothy 2:8 for men to pray, lifting up holy hands. The command to wash one another’s feet in John 12:14. And I’ve often thought about this command, found in Romans 16:16, to greet one another with a holy kiss. If it is something God wants me to do, I’ll do it. I probably won’t love it, I’m not even a big fan of hugging. But nobody that I know does this. So why not? We take other commands really seriously: Like taking the Lord’s supper every first day of the week, from Acts 20:7, and that’s an implied command. Or singing to one another in Ephesians 5:19, and so we don’t play guitars to each other or pianos, we sing. Well lets take a few minutes this morning to take this command seriously, and really dig into it to find out what we’re supposed to do. I think it deserves that respect as scripture.

Especially since the holy kiss is all over the scriptures. How many verses would you guess say greet one another with a holy kiss? 1? 2? How about five. Let’s read them together. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. Romans 16:16 All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 1 Corinthians 16:20 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 1 Thessalonians 5:26 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ. 1 Peter 5:14 Also, Philippians 4:21 is very similar, but without the kiss: Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. Philippians 4:21 I think this is plenty of evidence that we need to take this seriously. 7 times! There’s something for us here. So let’s dig into it a little more.

“Greet one another with a holy kiss.” What does that mean for us? Sometimes looking at the definitions of words can help, right Connie? Greet means salute. A salutation. It’s when you walk past someone and acknowledge their existence. Can you imagine living in a world where people were nothing more than objects to us? We pass each other like we pass rocks or trees? So one lesson is that for Christians the greeting is really important. We don’t just walk past people, We’re constantly connecting to everyone. And we have different kinds of greetings for different people. When it’s a king, you might bow your salutation to them, like when the guards mockingly saluted Jesus, “Hail, King of the Jews!” When it’s a stranger, it’s a polite, humble greeting. But for Christians our greeting is different. You see a Christian, you find out someone’s a brother, and immediately there’s excitement and joy and love and an intimate bond to express. Our Christian family is small in this world, and we’re alone, and being attacked on every side, and fighting a terrible battle to make it to the heavenly city. We need all the love we can get. Now we’re not supposed to be stingy with that greeting. Jesus said: Matthew 5:47 We need to take those feelings we have for the brethren and make that connection with our non-brother as well. Jesus said that God gives His holy kiss to the world in the form of the sun rising on them, and the rain falling on them. But it is a special greeting reserved for the brethren.

And what exactly is the “Holy Kiss”? I saw on Facebook a while ago a picture of the Holy hug – this is how church people hug, just to make sure everything’s above board. Well, I’m pretty sure Paul’s not contrasting holy kiss with luscious kiss. Remember in 1 Timothy 2:9 Paul referring to holy hands? And he goes on to explain what he means there: 1 Timothy 2:9 The Holy Hands don’t have fighting on them, and war and bitterness and division. They are peaceful and welcoming and loving. He’s saying, “Don’t raise your hands with your brother at church when you hate his guts. Lift up holy hands without wrath or dissention. The holy kiss is the kiss of peace and love and unity. It’s not a Judas kiss, it’s a holy kiss. And the fact that the Christian salutation is a kiss, and not a wave or a head nod says something about our greeting too. “Greet one another with a holy head nod.” No – a kiss! That’s where we are in our relationship.

So here’s the big question – are we supposed to be going around kissing each other, then? Well, that’s an important question. It’s a legitimate question. Let’s go back to what’s going on in these stories and take a closer look so we can find out. And let me point out a couple of things that’s going on within the context of every one of these verses. This is really important: First, notice that they’re all at the end of the books. Romans 16, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 Thessalonians 5, they’re all right at the end of these letters. Second, notice that these verses are coming during a section where Paul and Peter are greeting the recipients of their letter. He’s sending greetings left and right. Turn back to Romans 16. Starting in verse 3: Greet Prisca and Aquila, my friends. I’m so thankful for them. What does he mean exactly greet them? Well, he’s writing a letter, and whoever gets the letter needs to do that for him. Give them a big kiss for me. I can’t tell you how many times someone has asked me to hug someone for them. I don’t like hugging! But I’ll do it for you! That’s what Paul is doing. He is an affectionate, loving guy. And they’ll feel acknowledged and loved by Paul. 16:6-7. Greet them for me, right? I love them, they’re all special to me. Greet them for me. Sometimes Paul would also send greetings on behalf of other people, too. 1 Corinthians 16:19. Aquila and Priscilla say hi, send hugs and kisses. But let’s go back to Romans 16, because we’re about to get to the end of his greeting and the holy kiss part. 14-16. So he names a bunch of specific people, and then finally he concludes by saying kiss everybody. See, I don’t think this is Paul’s command to us. I think this is his greeting that he’s commanding. He’s saying greet everyone for me. He’s not suddenly throwing in a random command that everytime you see somebody, kiss them. He’s saying his goodbyes and passing on a greeting from him to them. Say hello to everyone for me. You can really see this clearly in 1 Thessalonians 5:25-26. Do what? Give them a kiss for me. So we miss the point if we’re taking this as some legalistic command for us to kiss everyone we see. It’s a salutation from the apostle Paul and his people to be passed on to the recipient of his letters. It’s the same thing Peter means when he says in 1 Peter 5:13-14 . . .

So here’s the big question – are we supposed to be going around kissing each other, then? Well, that’s an important question. It’s a legitimate question. Let’s go back to what’s going on in these stories and take a closer look so we can find out. And let me point out a couple of things that’s going on within the context of every one of these verses. This is really important: First, notice that they’re all at the end of the books. Romans 16, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 Thessalonians 5, they’re all right at the end of these letters. Second, notice that these verses are coming during a section where Paul and Peter are greeting the recipients of their letter. He’s sending greetings left and right. Turn back to Romans 16. Starting in verse 3: Greet Prisca and Aquila, my friends. I’m so thankful for them. What does he mean exactly greet them? Well, he’s writing a letter, and whoever gets the letter needs to do that for him. Give them a big kiss for me. I can’t tell you how many times someone has asked me to hug someone for them. I don’t like hugging! But I’ll do it for you! That’s what Paul is doing. He is an affectionate, loving guy. And they’ll feel acknowledged and loved by Paul. 16:6-7. Greet them for me, right? I love them, they’re all special to me. Greet them for me. Sometimes Paul would also send greetings on behalf of other people, too. 1 Corinthians 16:19. Aquila and Priscilla say hi, send hugs and kisses. But let’s go back to Romans 16, because we’re about to get to the end of his greeting and the holy kiss part. 14-16. So he names a bunch of specific people, and then finally he concludes by saying kiss everybody. See, I don’t think this is Paul’s command to us. I think this is his greeting that he’s commanding. He’s saying greet everyone for me. He’s not suddenly throwing in a random command that everytime you see somebody, kiss them. He’s saying his goodbyes and passing on a greeting from him to them. Say hello to everyone for me. You can really see this clearly in 1 Thessalonians 5:25-26. Do what? Give them a kiss for me. So we miss the point if we’re taking this as some legalistic command for us to kiss everyone we see. It’s a salutation from the apostle Paul and his people to be passed on to the recipient of his letters. It’s the same thing Peter means when he says in 1 Peter 5:13-14 . . .

But that doesn’t mean there are some important lessons for us from these greetings. So let’s close with five things that we ought to take away from these as commands for ourselves. Number one: Connecting with our brethren helps us stay alert to dangers. Romans 16:16 says . . . But then verse 17 goes on to say. Greet one, turn away from the other. But if we’re connecting with each other, we’ll stay alert to those problems and be able to deal with them.

Number two: Great heartily. I love the greeting of Priscilla and Aquila in 1 Corinthians 16:19 to the church at Corinth: Heartily means big, huge. I imagine them standing behind Paul as he writes, and he’s wrapping it up and they say, “Oh, tell them we really love them and we miss them so much and can’t wait to be with them again! Give them a big hug from us!” Let’s try to make everyone feel that special.

Number three, give a kiss even when you’re not thrilled with someone. Paul ends 2 Corinthians with some strong words of rebuke to that church: 2 Corinthians 13:5, 10. But still he sends his kiss: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13. I try to do this with the kids, still telling them I love them and hugging them even when they’re in trouble. It’s important that we do that with the brethren as well.

Number four, include some honor in that greeting, not just love. Paul’s kiss in 1 Thessalonians 5 comes after a command to honor: 5:12-13. We are after all, saluting the royal family when we greet the brethren, not to mention the fact that we are speaking to a creature fearfully and wonderfully made by the hand of God.

Finally, our kiss should be an agape kiss, 1 Peter 5:13-14. Our brethren are all in Babylon, struggling in the land of bondage, barely making it one day at a time in this difficult land. They need that kiss of love.

So maybe we don’t need to start kissing everyone we see (and I’m so thankful for that), But it’s still important that we learn the lessons of the kiss. Don’t walk past your brother leaving here this morning. They need you! And I hope this lesson only strengthens your faith in the authority of God’s Word. Every command is important, and nothing here can be ignored. If God wants us all to kiss, then we kiss. So be it. Will you obey God no matter what he says? What if He says quit drinking beer? What if He wants you to quit watching football games? Will you trust Him no matter what? What if He says Acts 2:38?

Good morning. Last Sunday night Gary did the sermon, And I wondered if he might talk about how blessed he was that he’s healing so well from his skiing accident, But I guess he’s already told that to all of us enough times. Instead he spoke about the important of following God’s Word and not man’s word, Even if the man speaking is an “expert” of some sort. It was an important message and it would have been good for everyone to hear it.

Because God’s not going to judge us based on how well we listened to the experts. We are going to have to get it right ourselves. Isaiah 8:20 says . . . Isaiah 8:20. The judgement will be, “Did we speak and live according to His Word or not?”

Jesus said, John 12:48. How carefully did we follow the Words of Jesus? Those are the Word that will judge us.

I didn’t realize this but even certain religious leaders and groups that I didn’t think were so strict on the principle of strictly following the Bible espoused this principle. Like John Calvin who taught that only what God has commanded in Scripture is acceptable and all that is not commanded is forbidden. Now that’s strict. Hey, Mr. Calvin, I have a great idea for our church! OK, is it commanded somewhere in scripture? No. Then it is forbidden.

Even the Baptist Confession of 1689 in London said: But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. Amen.

The way I grew up learning this principle was through preachers and Bible teachers always saying to us, “You need command, example or necessary inference to establish authority.” Apparently someone came up with an acronym for it, but I never new it as CENI like some of you. The message was we need to respect God’s authority alone and never do things according to our own well.

So let me explain it further, and I ask you to judge for yourselves whether or not it is a Biblical principle. Because it doesn’t matter what I say. You will stand alone on judgement day based on whether or not you followed God’s Word, not my teachings.

So first of all, the idea of “command, example, necessary inference” came about as Christians tried to figure out how to comply with Bible teachings. They knew that the Bible said, Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father (Colossians 3:16). and Consult God's instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. (Isaiah 8:20).

But they had a hard time figuring out how to find the Bible rules because the Bible’s not list of do’s and don’ts. You don’t open it up and find a long list of rules. You find the story of Jesus’ life, and some of His sermons, and then parables, and then letters that apostles wrote to different churches and people. And so it’s almost like God gives us a novel and then says, “Find all the commands in there and keep them.” Colossians 3:16, John 12:48. Fulfill the Law of Christ. Well, how do we do that? Figure it out.

So here’s how these brethren that worked out CENI thought about it. See what you think. They said first look for the commands in the New Testament and do them. And that makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Sometimes in the Bible God does give us clear commands. Like how about 1 Thessalonians 5:14-16? Well those are definitely commands and we need to do them if we’re truly receiving the Words of Christ. Luke 22:19 is another example of a command, this one coming straight from Jesus’ mouth: So we should really do that, which we did this morning. And we’re not talking about following my commands or commands of men or religious leaders, but commands from the Bible alone.

But then those brethren realized that sometimes God doesn’t explicitly give a command about something that we need to do. Sometimes we just supposed to learn from examples of Jesus and His disciples. why they didn’t do it.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Corinthians 11:1. So we observe Jesus’ life and imitate Him, And we observe Paul and the apostles and imitate them as well. But also we can take that a step further and follow the examples of the other Christians the Bible tells us about too, even if they’re not apostles. Why? Because they learned from the apostles. Why do you think the first Christians had their assemblies on the first day of the week? Because they learned from their teachers, the apostles. Why did they sing praises to God? And put elders over their churches? Because they were taught to do it that way. So that’s what “example” means. You don’t always need a command from the Bible. An example will do. Notice we’re not talking about examples of men outside of the Bible, and we don’t need to keep traditions that come down from non-Biblical sources. We seek examples from the Bible.

And then what did they mean by necessary inference? Well we know what infer means. It means you figure it out. What does it mean when your wife says, “You’re wearing that?” What does it mean when your wife gets out all the Christmas decorations except for the three you bought last year? You can figure it out without me even telling you. I was watching a movie a while back called National Treasure, the second one. And the lead actor was frustrated by the mixed messages he was getting from his girlfriend. And he asked, “How can I know what you want when you won’t tell me?” And she said, “You’re good at puzzles, you’ll figure it out.” God wants us to figure things out sometimes.

One time Jesus was talking about this verse from Exodus chapter three. It’s a conversation between God and Moses, years after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had all died. But Jesus read this passage to the Sadducees who did not believe that people could still be alive after death, And Jesus said to them, “Don’t you pay attention to scripture?” Have you not read what God said in Exodus 3:6? I AM their God. Notice the tense, Jesus is saying. He’s still their God even though they died a long time ago, implying they’re still alive somewhere, Because Jesus adds in Matthew 22:32 that He is not the God of the dead but of the living. Figure it out, Jesus teaches. That’s what it means to infer.

We have to infer a lot of things about how to do Communion or the Lord’s supper. Like when Jesus broke bread and drank wine with His apostles on Passover, He wasn’t just doing it for them but for us too. And then in Acts 2:42, where we see the apostles devoting themselves to the Lord’s supper, as much as they devoted themselves to prayer, That must mean we should do it a lot. Not once a year like some churches or once a quarter but a lot. Which makes sense of the example in Acts 20 of a church taking the Lord’s supper on the 1st day of the week. That’s when churches were doing it back then. That’s a lot, every week. And then in 1 Corinthians 11:20 Paul says the Corinthian church should have been meeting together as a church for the purpose of taking the Lord’s supper, but they weren’t. So I’m inferring that the first Christians centered around the Lord’s supper. Do you? So when should we take the Lord’s supper? All the time, on the first day of the week, using unleavened bread and wine like Jesus showed His apostles. That’s a lot for us to figure out. I’ve often thought about how the first Christians learned how they were supposed to do things back then in their churches. An apostle came to their town and converted them to Jesus and then sat them all down and taught them what to do. But we don’t get to hear how those conversations went anymore today. We have to piece together what the apostles said by looking at how those early Christians did things. For whatever reason God thought that’s the right way for us to learn today. So there’s a lot of figuring out and inferring and studying that we have to do today to make sure we’re obeying the Lord correctly. So what do you think of CENI? Is it a good principle?

I appreciate so much brethren who desperately want to make sure they’re following God’s Word exactly right, And CENI is their attempt at doing so. But we do need to be careful not to go to far with it. For example, we need to be careful when finding commands in the Bible, because some of them aren’t for us. Like the Old Testament commands aren’t for us. Though they were written for our instruction, 1 Corinthians 10:6. Go and sell all you have was not a command that we are to literally follow even though there is a lesson in it for us. Go sacrifice your first born was a command in the Bible, but it was for Abraham. So we need to have some wisdom concerning God’s commands. And some examples aren’t for us, either. Like when Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles. He was an apostle and He did that, but we shouldn’t follow his example because it was bad. The Christians in Acts chapter 20 ate the Lord’s supper in an upper room, as did Jesus and the apostles. I don’t see that being something we’re supposed to follow. It has no significance that I can see. So it takes wisdom.

But we do need to take following God’s Word as seriously as CENI implies we should. And I’m thankful for people who love God so much that they are compelled to please Him in everything they do. So how serious are you in the work of patterning yourself after Jesus and the first brethren? Are you studying enough to be able to do so? And testing everything you hear people and churches doing against scripture? Weeding out the wheat from the chaff, the traditions of men from the traditions of God? Are you determined to follow every jot and tittle, as Jesus says in Matthew 5, To do both the smallest things and the biggest things? If not, you need to make some changes before the day you have to stand before Him and give account. If you haven’t obeyed the Lord in baptism, let’s change that this morning. Here is water, what hinders you from being baptized?

Why this is effective.

Gospel meetings, cottage classes, Film Strip series ( Jule Miller)

Evangelism roles: Teachers, inviters, hospitable, watch kids, open homes, phone calls, encouragers

No pressure to make it work

Need to make friends.

We are the billboard. 2 Corinthians 3:1ff.

What works the last 15 years.

This doesn’t work anymore Exception – neighborhood Bible study

This is where churches have had success.

Concentrate our efforts on getting them to visit us. So how do we do it? This has proven effective where we’ve been in the past (Col 4:5).

If you’re not doing this, don’t tell people you’re Christians.

It should be a part of our speech

Let them observe us, 1 Corinthians 14.

Be ready to be hospitable

Cultivate their hearts, invite, be kind, gentle, bruised wick, reach out

The goal – is a study! Gently, starting where they are. Berry – “that’s a great question, let’s get together and talk about that.”

Once they are with us, we need to be more to continue working with them and teaching and helping them grow because they will be just starting out.

Matthew 5:16, John 3:1

John 1:39-41 Revelation 22:17 Don’t teach them everything, just offer the invitation

1 Corinthians 14:22-25 When they come we need to be careful what we’re talking about in class, in sermons. “Those Baptists . . . Insider language, etc.”

Review: Started this series over a month ago looking at how to evangelize successfully. Evangelism is something we are supposed to be wise about, Colossians 4:5, 1 Chronicles 12:32. There have been different approaches over the years that have worked in their time but not others (Paul going to synagogues, Paul in Athens at Mars Hill, School of Tyrannus, Tent Meetings, Cottage Classes, most recently, in our time where we see so many people every day but are so isolated, connecting with people individually and inviting them into our communities to show them who we are and then teach them.

So there’s lots of work anymore that needs to happen by you to get them here (see slide).

There’s no shortcut to doing the work. Statistics. That’s why the Visitor Sunday has proven effective – statistics.

As we’re putting in the work, our wisdom needs to focus on who’s responding, and so we have three types of people. Prospects. Rejectors. Projects.

Let’s talk about how our society today is different from a few decades ago that might explain what seems like less acceptance of the gospel today. We’ve become a society where people are now constantly on top of each other. I remember hearing that centuries ago the average person saw maybe 1000 people in their lifetime, now it’s in the millions. But we connect less with people, those relationships tend to be very superficial which doesn’t lead to opportunities to share the gospel.

People today have so much less Bible knowledge than in the past. So we have to start from a different place. Instrumental music, what’s wrong with Baptists, the Bible is a message from God.

Example.

Instead . . . So we need to be gentle with people as they’re coming into contact with us.

Let’s talk about how we can get ourselves ready as a church to receive them and draw them to the Lord. Lots of churches believe the best approach is to make it as fun and exciting as possible for visitors coming in – the higher the entertainment value, the better. But that doesn’t work. It’s not just a bad idea, it doesn’t work because people aren’t coming to church for entertainment. People are recognizing that something is missing in their lives and their seeking to fill the hole. Churches that are growing even in the denominational world are the ones who are demanding and focus on the word, not the ones who water things down and make it as easy as possible. So what kind of church should we be in order to grow? We should not be ashamed of our focus on God’s Word and truth. And we need to believe that people are looking for that.

Challenge people. Elon Musk and Twitter – what kind of businesses do better – the uncommitted or the workers?

We need to be morally demanding.

We need to be loving and caring. Sheila’s comments – be welcoming of everyone who comes in here no matter who they are.

We need to look to the future. For elders, this building, growth plans, strengthening our weaknesses, assessing needs. We should not be taking things day by day.

Bible classes are important. How can we make them better? How can we avoid the problems we’ve all seen in the past?

Commitment to growth, as the scriptures challenge us, Ephesians 4:16

Make our worship times better. What should praise look like? What’s the right balance of joy and reverence?

How can we get more visitor flow?

We need to emphasize that God gives the increase.

12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12, NKJV) I’m going to be Captain Obvious for a minute and suggest that Timothy, the one told by the apostle Paul not to let anyone despise his youth, was a young man. But I do not believe this is a principle just for young men. Women, let no one despise you because you are a woman. Older people, let no one despise you because you are old. None of us should allow ourselves to be disrespected. The principle in this scripture is that we are in charge of what people think of us and how they treat us. We are returning this week to our study of the household of God.

We are returning this week to our study of the household of God. And this morning we have entered God’s guest room. Now this room isn’t for you, sorry about that. I wouldn’t mind staying in here either, it looks so comfortable. You’ve got this cozy seating area, with the sleeping area over here behind the sliding glass doors. And out this way is the back porch where guests can hand out in the morning with their coffee and look out into the countryside.

It’s nice. But it’s not for you. Because you’re not a guest in the house of God. You’re family. And in My Father’s house are many rooms, and the Lord has already prepared a place for you and your room is amazing and it’s all yours. This room is for the guests. And we’re going to talk about your interactions with them. What if there were many people who have come into the household of God, and it’s your job to serve them. You’ve got to meet their needs, tell them what to do, where to go. And all eyes are on you as you instruct them. They’re watching you. They’re deciding about you. They’re judging you. They notice some unflattering things about the way you talk, they see that thing you do when you’re nervous, it looks like there’s something on your shirt. What do you do about people who are judging you? I went to a graduation on Thursday night and I heard something from the speeches that got me thinking about this.

Three young people had earned the right to address graduation. I think all of them talked about God, which was so refreshing. And then they talked about our futures. Well, the people who have futures, not those of us who are past our primes. They said, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” And don’t worry about what other people think, do what makes you happy. This is a task-focused perspective. Do what makes you happy. Find what makes you happy. And I’m going to show you in a minute that this is the temptation of youth, that happiness is about building a certain kind of life that most other people have failed to obtain. This is a relationship-oriented life, where we care deeply about what other people think of us. And we are supposed to work hard to earn the respect of people who are judging us based on our youth or our looks or speech. Young people are tempted to not care what other people think.

Do you remember that passage in 2 Timothy that talks about youthful lusts? What do you think are the youthful lusts there? It’s not partying and sexual immorality, it’s this selfish prideful view of their own ideas over other people’s. 2 Timothy 2:22. So what are these youthful lusts that Timothy needs to avoid? Well the next verse says . . . 2 Timothy 2:23. Don’t quarrel, don’t argue about dumb things. But also notice what comes before verse 22. 2 Timothy 2:14-17. And then there are further warnings about such evil people in the next few verses. But the warning is for people who like to argue more than they like to listen, because people are idiots. You can’t trust anybody, Don’t listen to people who are just trying to bring you down and follow your heart, right? Wrong. Run from the temptation to think that way. 2 Timothy 2:22 Respect people, be kind and gentle and patient, even with the unloving and critical people.

And work to earn their respect. 1 Timothy 4:12. Do you do this? Older folks, do you just assume that people are going to disrespect you and dismiss you? Do you let them despise you? Women, do you just assume that men are going to disrespect you and dismiss you? Middle aged people past their prime, have you just decided that you have enough to worry about without focusing on what everyone thinks about you? Younger people, does it matter to you what older people think about you? It needs to, for all of us, because God puts it on us to earn respect.

And this is how we do it. In my head I always call this “playing the long game.” Meaning that on day one they don’t think much of us. But we say the right things, act right, love them, be faithful and good. And then on day two they don’t think much of us. But we commit to proving that we’re responsible and nice. I think I’m on day 3,000 with some people, but for others they believe in me after a while. In a way it’s not fair that a lot of people begin by despising us and the responsibility is on us to earn their respect, and we may have a hard time respecting them while we’re doing it. But God’s people always take the initiative. We always love first. And so we’re going to fight for your respect.

Timothy did it so that people would listen to him, so that he could help them go to heaven, which is why we do it, too. Verse 12 says he is to prove to people that he is someone to watch and learn from. Verse 16 says to . . . And then chapter 5 is how to be influential towards all different kinds of people: 1 Timothy 5:1-2 Which also includes widows and elders as you continue reading further.

What do you do when someone who doesn’t know you disrespects you? Will you accept the challenge? Are they worth it to you? If you’re having trouble answering that question, remember where you live. You’re in the household of God, and He has high expectations of you and how you treat His guests.

Good evening.

In Luke 6:38, Jesus said . . . Luke 6:38. This verse makes clear what we are supposed to do with what is given to us. We give to others. We will be blessed based on our use of those blessings. Including our life, breath, Our family, Money, and blessings, and opportunities, and gifts, All given to us not for our sakes but to benefit others by.

We’re going to be looking at Spiritual gifts in the Bible and taking lessons from that time, And one thing that stands out is when the Lord gave 1st century people the power of spiritual gifts, He did so to benefit other people. It was a gift to the body of Christ via individual people. The owners of the gift were simply the vehicle for delivering the gift to His people. So yes we don’t have spiritual gifts today like they did back then, but we still need to see ourselves as God using us to bring blessings to the body of Christ.

That whole spiritual gift world is so strange to me. What happened was an apostle visit a city. Peter and John went to Samaria in Acts chapter 8 to deliver miraculous power. The apostle Paul did the same at Corinth. But also people would pray for power to be bestowed on the church or an individual. Like in Acts 6 prior to the seven receiving their gifts. And we see Timothy receiving gifts through the laying on of the hands of the elders according to 1 Timothy 4:14, perhaps as an anointing ceremony. Acts 6:6. They could pray for God to give them certain gifts. “Lord, please give me the power to heal. Please give me the ability to prophecy in your name.” Paul suggested in 1 Corinthians 14:13 that people with the ability to speak in tongues pray also for the ability to interpret. And then the apostles would lay their hands on them to complete the process, as Paul did for Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6. So now churches had a community of gifted people. Like the X-Men. Do you know that show? Xavier’s school for the gifted.

Some were suddenly gifted with wisdom. Could be Harold, with the ability to know the perfect decision. Someone else will have words of knowledge, perhaps the perfect scripture at the perfect time. Another would become bold and certain, having a gift of faith. But that didn’t mean they knew how to exercise their gifts. They would have to learn and be trained to be effective, as we see in 1 Corinthians 11-14 where Paul has to explain how to use them properly.

It was such a strange, chaotic, often unhelpful environment back then, if Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14 are any indication. The last verse in the chapter commands them to do things orderly. Also, sometimes the Spirit would give the gifts to ungodly people in the church community. Which is surprising to me. I would think someone having a spiritual gift indicates they’re right with God, wouldn’t you? And the ones who didn’t get anything, you’d know where they’re going. But Jesus says there’s going to be people on judgement day who had spiritual gifts but are lost. Matthew 7:22. Apparently they thought their gifts could save them. They didn’t realize it was more important to have a good heart. It’s also strange imagining people fighting over spiritual gifts, like 1 Corinthians 14 talks about. In verse 12, Paul says the Corinthians were eager for certain gifts, and everyone wanted tongue speaking. So there was jealousy and envy over who had what gift, which Paul tries to correct, In chapter 12 verse 12: And then in chapter 14:3-6, where he tries to exalt other gifts over tongue speaking to address the jealousy. And then it’s also strange trying to imagine the way they conducted their worship service with all the gifted saints. It sounds very chaotic. People were fighting over who gets to prophecy next. Somebody rushes up to the front to interrupt Harold and his word of wisdom because they’re receiving a prophecy. Somebody in the back stands up and starts speaking in a tongue. Brother Barrientes, who came prepared with a song, is mad because he is forgotten. Sister Carole stands up to give her prophecy inappropriately, but hey the Spirit moved her. And nobody is listening to each other, and everybody’s acting like they have the most urgent message and they have no control over the Spirit moving them.

So it’s no surprise that the apostle Paul spends so much time teaching them how to properly use them. Let me show you five lessons we can learn from the era of spiritual gifts from 1 Corinthians 12-14.

Lesson number one: Our gifts are under our control. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 12:1-2. They came from a form of religion before Christ that had no inhibition, where people released control of themselves. Idolatrous worship back then was very sexualized and emotional and chaotic. So Paul teaches: 1 Corinthians 12:3. Spiritual gifts don’t lead us astray. Which a couple of chapters later will mean the Spirit doesn’t lead to chaos in worship and it doesn’t force people to be rude or speak out of turn. At the end of chapter 14, Paul concludes: 1 Corinthians 14:40. And this is about spiritual gifts. We are in control of our gifts. So they serve us. How are yours serving you? Are you delegating them to certain uses? Organizing and controlling them effectively? Or do we have no plan what we’re going to do with them and just hope they get out there somehow.

Lesson number two: Acknowledge the source of our gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:4 says . . . 1 Corinthians 12:4-6. The cool thing about this passage is that it does not distinguish between miraculous spiritual gifts and non-miraculous gifts. In other words, as powerful as the gift of healing and wisdom can be in its benefit and influence, it does no more than the gift of service or generosity or teaching which you were given. The Spirit has given each of us gifts, just like back then, so we need to train them and develop them and use them properly for His sake.

Lesson three: God gave us our gifts, not for us, but to give to His body. It’s like God says to His church, “I want to give you a gift. Carol? You know that thing I gave you to give to them? Can you please bring it here?” 1 Corinthians 12:7 says . . . That gift’s not for you. It’s interesting how much Paul talks about the hierarchy of gifts, as though some are more important than others. For example, he wants people to desire prophecy above tongues. But why? Well, notice that it’s because they’re ranked in terms of what most benefits. 1 Corinthians 12:31, 14:1. Chapter 13 is the famous love chapter, and it’s right in the middle of this section about spiritual gifts. So the point must be that spiritual gifts are an act of love for the church. And one thing that’s really stood out to me from studying gifts is that they are for us, not the world. Chapter 12 speaks of the body each having its place and its role for the benefit of the rest of the body. Spiritual gifts benefit the body. They’re for us. Not that there’s no benefit in them for the world, they do confirm God’s Word and bring people to Him, But they’re for the body, chapter 12 says. We need to give them back to the body.

Lesson four: Savor our gifts. Value them. Appreciate what God has given us. In chapter 14, Paul talks about how wonderful the gift of tongues was to the people who received that gift. He says, 1 Corinthians 14:1-4. I’ve always wondered why the Corinthians valued tongue speaking so much. I think I’d rather have miracles. Tongues would be at the bottom for me. But don’t these verses sound like tongue speakers received some kind of very personal, special edification? It was a very private, personal gift that other people really couldn’t appreciate without an interpreter. It was almost a selfish gift. It was intimate. If only we had that level of appreciation for the gifts God has given to each of us. Lord, thank you for helping me to have what I have. Let’s like who we are what what God gave us, it’s precious. I don’t need to have what you have. I’m thankful you have it, but I cherish what God has given me.

Finally, lesson five: Covet spiritual gifts. Want them. Seek them. Like the Corinthians did. Paul doesn’t condemn them for wanting spiritual gifts. He says, 1 Corinthians 14:12-13. The Corinthians loved spiritual gifts. That wasn’t the problem, that was great. Just make sure that you’re coveting them for the right reasons, to help people. I think that we each cherish certain aspects of the Kingdom of God more than others. For example, some brethren have a heart for Bible authority. That’s their soapbox. Or helping poor people. Some want to have financial means to bless the church. Others value leadership and desire those offices. That’s good and Biblical. So covet them, but do so for the sake of the Kingdom. Use prayer to seek God’s help to accomplish your goals. That’s the message of the parable of the vine in John 15. Covet the gifts so that you can target a need in the Kingdom of God.

There’s not going to be an apostle walking through our doors anytime soon to impart miraculous gifts. That age is over, and that’s fine. But we are well-represented by the Spirit and His gifts within this body. And so we need to be intentional with them now. If we just hope that they benefit this body, our work will fail. But if we take Paul’s lessons and plan to use them properly, then we can maximize the benefit the Holy Spirit intended. Control your gifts. Acknowledge their origin from the Holy Spirit. Give them back to the body as they were intended. Savor them, And Covet more. And then we will be useful tools for the Lord’s Kingdom. How would you like to be useful for the Lord?

We’re going to be looking at the story of King Saul this morning, so please open your Bibles to 1 Chronicles.

1 Chronicles 10 verse 13 says . . . 1 Chronicles 10:13-14. Notice the reason God gave for Saul’s death. God wants us to understand that Saul died because he failed. He was unfaithful, didn’t keep God’s word and didn’t inquire of him. So the Lord put him to death. But the thing I find most interesting about Saul’s failures is that despite the fact he wasn’t great at the beginning, and wasn’t really who God wanted to be King in the first place, And despite the fact that he failed in the end, God was so gracious in between, working with him in every possible way to give him a chance to succeed.

King Saul lived for 70 years before God put him to death, so that should tell us something about God’s patience. And he reigned as king for 40 years. And throughout that time God is being patient and making concessions and giving him gifts and working with him to find a way to help him succeed. Unfortunately all of that never meant enough to Saul and he couldn’t ever fully devote himself to the Lord. As we go through his story this morning, take note of how much God tried to help Saul, And notice that there was a lot of good in him and it wasn’t enough, So God replaced him with another who was fully devoted. And remember that God will do the same to us.

It’s wonderful to me that God didn’t want Saul to become King, and He didn’t even want Israel to have a King at this point. But when God chose Him there was no spite and only grace towards him. I remember showing up to Miami of Ohio where I was brought in by the coaches to be the punter there. Except the thing was there already were a couple of punters that had been with the team for a while. The team loved those guys, and now I’m showing up to be the punter. I wasn’t in anyone’s good graces for a while. Do you think anyone’s going to help me succeed? Are they going to help me replace them? God did that with Saul. God was King, but Israel wasn’t satisfied with that. And when they were attacked by the Ammonites (1 Samuel 12:12), their fear got the best of them and begged for a human king they could see protecting them. Eventually God was planning on giving them a King. I think God understands that need we have, which is why He gave us Jesus.

And He had prophesied all the way back in Genesis 49 that Israel would have a King. Genesis 49:10. But I know Saul was not God’s plan because the King was supposed to come from Judah, and saw was a Benjamite.

So what would you do if you were the Lord and the people demand that you give them a King to lead in your place? Our God accepted it and offered a blessing. 1 Samuel 12:12-14. And I tried to imagine this week what it would have been like if God introduced me as the King of His rejection not in accordance with the plans of God. I think I might have fought it a little bit, wouldn’t you?

It doesn’t seem like Saul gave it much thought. He’s so weird to me. When God first had Samuel tell Saul that he was chosen to be King, he went home and didn’t tell anybody what happened. 1 Samuel 10:14-16. What would you do? I’m pretty sure I’d be letting my friends and family know. And then you’re probably familiar with the story of Saul hiding when it was time for his coronation. And then even after that he just went home again to plow his dad’s fields.

But my point isn’t to criticize Saul. It’s to show that despite his shortcomings God is still his biggest advocate throughout the process. Don’t you think Saul knew he was a weird choice faithwise? He must have known he wasn’t very faithful, he knew he wasn’t the righteous choice. But God’s not critical, He’s not ridiculing Israel or him, It’s actually the opposite. He’s very helpful.

He gave Him the Spirit of God mightily. 1 Samuel 10:10. He changed his heart. 1 Samuel 10:9. It can be tempting for us to wonder if we belong among God’s people. But we’re here, and this is how God operates towards those who are present. He provides what is needed for us to succeed, and will work with us until we prove that our hearts will never be fully His.

But the problem with Saul is that he never came around. He didn’t embrace being King, And then he never took advantage of God’s gifts and grew in his faith. The last straw for God was when Saul was told to go to Gilgal to wait for Samuel to come offer the sacrifice before the Lord. This is 1 Samuel 13. Once Saul got there, he was to wait seven days for Samuel. But Saul and Israel were in the middle of a terrible battle with the Philistines. They came with 30000 chariots and 6000 horseman. Can you picture that? Israel’s terrified. The army’s running away, hiding themselves in caves and cliffs, and many are defecting and joining the Philistines. Is it fair to ask Saul to wait for seven days with that going on and do nothing? Faithful people wait on the Lord. They don’t abandon Him, they don’t try to do it themselves. But Saul couldn’t help himself, offered the sacrifice himself, which was not his job and he was not allowed to do. And that’s when God decided to replace him. What’s frustrating is there were times when it seemed like he had some faith in there. At times he was valiant and zealous for Israel. He defeated the Ammonites in chapter 12 and gave credit to the Lord for it. He built an alter after fighting the Philistines, which was a good thing. He could be kind and forgiving. But those ended up being exceptions and not the rule for him.

Some is not enough. How are you different?

I think we can relate to Saul, When God chose him as King, and Saul knew he wasn’t the godliest or most faithful, or worthy of the Kingdom. And we can relate to God blessing us at times when He should have been cursing us, And guiding us when He probably should be turning away from us, But at some point He’s going to run out of patience for the half-hearted. And for every Saul there’s a King David waiting in the wings to take his place in God’s Kingdom. The good news is that it’s still today, which means there’s hope to begin being what Saul never learned to be. It’s time to give our whole hearts to God. Let us help you with that new beginning, whether it’s by finally washing away your sins or a renewed commitment to the Lord.

Good morning.

Sometimes the Bible describes Christians as people who have been freed from their captivity. As though we were held captive by the devil, and then the Lord came and rescued us. Like in Luke 4:18, for example.

But then sometimes it’s just the opposite, where the Bible describes the gospel as something that takes us INTO captivity, And we become captives of Christ. So what does it mean that we are captives of Christ? Take a look with me at 1 Corinthians 4.

1 Corinthians 4:8-13. I’m hearing a lot of sarcasm in this passage, aren’t you? You sure are all doing great while we apostles aren’t looking so good. And it seems like Paul is confronting some Christians who have been criticizing the apostles here, which is so hard for me to understand – what Christian could possibly be criticizing the apostles in the 1st century? It makes no sense. Whoever these people were, they viewed the apostles as weak. They were embarrassing. They’re always poor, and in prison like criminals, beaten and disrespected by the cities where they preached. Do you think Christians should be respectable people in their communities or dishonorable people? They thought Christianity should be honored among the community! Christians have great principle, they’re hard working, great neighbors, wise. We ought to be pillars in our communities, and people should respect and appreciate us. I think that’s how some of the Corinthians saw it. And Paul was not that. How could the apostles mess up Christianity so badly and embarrass us all? Paul’s response to them is imitate me. 1 Corinthians 4:14-16. What do you think? Should the Christian life be easier than the non-Christian life like some Corinthians believed? Or should it be, as Paul describes in verse 9, an exhibition of condemned men and women?

Here’s how the NIV translates verse 9, which really puts it into perspective. For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. So what kind of spectacle should bebe?

Now turn to 2 Corinthians 2, and look with me at another image of Christians being captives in Christ. And again you see Paul arguing with those same people here. This is where some are accusing Paul of not keeping his word (like when he said he was coming to visit them but didn’t). And that He’s harsh in his letters. And against them like 2 Corinthians 7 desribes. So Paul defends himself in chapter 2. He says, “You’re wrong about me, I do care about you!” And this is how he proves it, beginning in verse 12: 2 Corinthians 2:12-13. Can you imagine what would make the apostle Paul so distracted that he can’t bring the gospel to people? He had this great door of opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ in Troas, and he doesn’t take advantage of it. Why? Because he’s worried sick about the Corinthians! I couldn’t even share the gospel, I was so worried about you! And then he tries to help them understand why his life needs to be a mess. And how we can have the same kind of life. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.

This passage is kinda hard to understand. What is he thanking God for here?

Take a look at another translation of verse 14 that I think helps us better understand the passage. This is from the NIV. 2 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV) He’s thanking God for taking us captives. Thank you God for the servitude. Look with me at a parallel passage over in chapter 4, and notice here also a thanksgiving for a life of hardship: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15. Do we thank God for our problems? “Wow. What an awful week, thanks be to God.” “Two funerals, barely paid the bills thanks to the water leak, my children have stressed me to the max, thanks be to God.” Does anybody talk like that? The apostle Paul does. He said, “I had an opportunity to preach, but my spirit was suffering with concern for my Corinthian brethren, thanks be to God.” Notice that the image isn’t just that we are captives, but that we are being marched in procession as captives.

Here’s another translation, from the HCSB: Who puts us on display.

So not only were we captured and conquered by Christ, we’re also being led in chains to be showed off as His captives. Look at who I caught! It’s a depiction of ancient conquest. A king would take his armies and travel to meet his enemies. And he’d fight them. And once he declared victory, he would take the spoils from his enemies, and gather up the survivors as his prisoners, put them in chains, and bring them home. And he’d have a procession. A celebratory parade. We won! His citizens would gather and admire the gold and jewels and chariots and whatever else he’d be showing off. And they’d watch the conquered soldiers, the prisoners as they’re paraded through in chains. And who are we in that image? 2:14. We’re the captives. And how do we feel about that? Well, I would think most captured soldiers aren’t so happy about it. It’s humiliating and embarrassing, and you’ve lost and you’re angry and helpless. But not us. We’re thankful for it. We’re glad He defeated us. We wanted Him to. We’re back here marching in the parade pointing to the great King, “Yeah, he got us. Wow, what a great King. He deserves our glory. And we’re honored to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere.

Here’s a fuller image of the passage. 14-16. So what are we so thankful for? Well, that we are being an aroma of Christ to God. And what does the Bible mean by aroma?

Take a look at Philippians 4:18. When the Jews would offer sacrifices to God, the smell of the sacrifice would go up to God as a pleasing aroma.

So we’re happy to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God, and to be the aroma of its burning. We’re happy to be his captors, led around in this parade, humiliated, suffering for Him. Even dying for Him if that’s where this leads. Because this conquering King deserves it. Look around at everyone watching the parade and us in chains. They’re all cheering because we’ve been defeated and pillaged. And we’re cheering right along with them! Because the King is great and it’s an honor to display His glorious victory through our defeat. Just like Paul described back in 1 Corinthians 4, when he said in verse 9: For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. So for Paul, it was a great honor to be a spectacle. He was happy to be the one who is poor, and hungry, and stupid, and dishonored. And to have to work so hard, and be the fool who blesses the people who curse him. Paul says in verse 16 that the perishing in the world see this kind of sacrificial Christian life as ridiculous. Only fools would put themselves through such a life. It’s a life of death to them. But to those who have a heart for God get it. They see the value in minimizing the comforts of the world, in self-sacrifice so that other people might open their eyes to the God whose people will do anything to win them, in loving hateful people. It’s a fragrance of life to them. So how can we do a better job thanking God as triumphant captives in Christ?

Let me suggest three things: First, find ways to be inconvenienced as the people of God. The idea of being sacrificial is that we want a comfortable kind of life, but we’re going to interrupt what we want for the sake of God’s work. As Jesus was coming down the mountain after His great sermon, he was asked to come heal the Centurion’s servant. And Jesus said, “I’ll go.” That’s the heart of sacrifice. That’s not where He was headed but that’s where He was needed. I know you’ve got things pulling on you this week, things that need to get done, places that you need to go. Go out of your way this week to be inconvenienced for people. Let their needs rearrange your priorities to serve them. Let’s not be like the Corinthians who used Christian principles to give themselves an advantage over the world. Let’s put ourselves out there until we start looking foolish.

Number two: Let’s find ways to go against the grain of the world. We’re not looking to build bigger barns, as we talked about this morning. Or escape the stress of the world. We are supposed to find ways of standing out from the world by the choices that we make in our lives that take from us and give to others. Paul did such a great job at this that he was a fool in everyone’s eyes.

Lastly, let’s borrow Paul’s line as he reflects on his suffering: “Thanks be to God.” It’s a blessing and an honor to be a part of this parade. And I hope and pray that God finds a use for my humiliation and sacrifice.

Have you joined the triumphant procession of prisoners for Christ? It’s important that people smell the fragrance of sacrifice in us, because it points to another sacrifice they need to see. Won’t you join the work of God today? He will reward your decision if you do. Come as we stand and sing.

Romans 7:15-20. I haven’t found a Christian yet who doesn’t relate to these words about the battle against sin. We know what it means to want to do the right thing but not be able to get ourselves to be good. This is it! I’m not gonna mess up this time! I’m strong enough to say no! No you’re not. None of us are. I want to show this morning that God offers a new way of fighting sin so that we don’t always feel like we’re losing. If we can make some changes in how we think about sin, we won’t be this frustrated person who’s always doing the things they don’t want to do.

The new way that God teaches is described over in Romans chapter 6. This is the chapter that begins by making sure that Christians understand it’s not ever acceptable to sin. Now that God was gracious to us and forgave our sins, should we just keep sinning and then asking for forgiveness? Romans 6:1? No we shouldn’t. Why?

A lot of reasons. It’s like killing Jesus all over again when we forsake Him and live a life of sin. Hebrews 6:6.

In Romans 6, the answer is that we shouldn’t sin because we died to it. Romans 6:2-6. Why’d you become a Christian? Was it to die to sin? Or was it so that you could sin? It was because you didn’t want sin in your life anymore. Shannen and I were talking about Romans 7 the other day, and were looking at the part where it says “If I’m doing what I don’t want to do, then I agree with the Law of God that it is good.” What does that mean? Well, if we believe that we can’t get ourselves to do what we’re supposed to do, what’s happening is we’re looking at our lives and then we’re looking at God’s Law and we’re wishing we could be like that. We’re frustrated because we know God’s way is good but we’re not. Shannen was also telling me there’s a lot of young people at Florida college who are discouraged because they want to follow God’s Law but they can’t get themselves to do it. That’s a good first step, to acknowledge God’s Law is good, but it’s not enough.

Now we have to acknowledge that sin is bad. We have to hate it. We have to buy into the fact that we became Christians because we hated what sin was doing to us, and we came to God to get away from it. It makes us wretched, Paul says in Romans 7:24. Romans 7:24. I don’t like who I am when I sin. I hate what sin has done to people I love. Sin’s the thing that’s hurting my friends, it’s what’s wrong with our country right now, it messes everything up. I hate it and I want to get away from it but it’s like I’m addicted to it or something. When we can say that we became Christians to get away from sin, then we’re ready to start healing. Romans 6:2-3.

And then the next thing is to change in our minds who is our master. I’m thinking about my kids on this illustration: Have you ever known a person who left a toxic relationship and met someone new, a good person, but it was like their mind was stuck in the old relationship? They weren’t free of it yet. We are hoping and praying that we will be a certified foster home this week. Foster kids have the same struggle. They’ve left a toxic family situation and are in a better one, but their minds are still back home. It’s hard to escape. The Bible says that we start out as slaves to sin. We say that we’ve killed our old self and raised a new person, but the old person still seems to be sticking around and doing sin’s bidding. Romans 6:6-7. But now we need to think of ourselves as slaves to God. Romans 6:22. What does it take for somebody to quit being stuck in the past and accept and appreciate the new relationships in their lives? It’s going to take a lot of trust. This person’s looking out for my best interests. They love me unconditionally. They’re good, and I can trust them. Do what it takes to think of yourself as a slave to God. And when we’re slaves to God, we are thinking about obeying Him. Romans 6:16-18. In the last year I’ve gotten trained to practice a kind of family therapy where we help kids with severe behaviors learn to obey their parents. The first half of the therapy is all about building trust between the parent and child. The parent’s not allowed to give any commands to the kids until the trust has gotten to a certain level. And then we start working on the obedience. How much do you really trust God? Do you see how interested He is in you? That He counts the hairs on our heads, that He watched us forming in the womb, that He listens to our prayers in a world of 7 billion people, that He hates seeing us suffer, that He took care of our sin problem by sacrificing His own Son so that we could be His sons and daughters too? “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” That’s the point at which we can then quit being slaves to sin and start being obedient to God and His righteousness, because we love and trust Him.

And the Law is no longer our Master, either. A lot of people act like they’re forced to behave, that rules are shoved down their throats. Shannen said you go to F.C. and there’s a million rules about everything, and then there are some staff who are on a power trip who love to catch people breaking the rules. That’s kind of how it is when we think some rule book is controlling us rather than God Himself. Because rules are cold, heartless things that are arbitrary, and you just have to do them or else. There’s no love in rules, rules don’t care about us. When the apostle Paul talks about rules, he describes them as just things that make you want to rebel. Romans 7:8-12. And really, Paul says, it’s sin that’s behind all of these good laws making us go bad. Christians who feel like they’re forced to keep all these laws are servants of the Law, and that’s not good. We need to see ourselves as servants of God instead. Because the Law is a cruel master that doesn’t care about us. It’s easier to think of ourselves as servants of God because He’s good to us, and gracious, and we want to please Him. Romans 6:15-18. Let’s see ourselves as servants of God and not slaves to sin or to some Law.

Number three, to overcome sin we have to change what we’re living for. People who become Christians because they don’t want to go to hell and they just want God to forgive them are just going to fall right back into sin, because they’re just living to NOT do something. You can’t live to not do something. My goal in life is to not get hurt. My goal is to not fail. That’s not a life, and you’ll probably get hurt and fail anyway. The scripture says that if we’re going to overcome sin, then we have to give ourselves over to something new for fulfillment. Sin was great in the moment doing what we wanted it to do – to feel good for a second during a bad life. Righteousness can do that to if we’ll allow ourselves to trust God and pursue it. Romans 6:19-23. A lot of people don’t like Diet drinks because of the aftertaste. It’s OK at first but then the aftertaste stays with you. Paul says sin left us with the aftertaste of shame. Which takes us on a path to death. But doing right is so rewarding. Have you ever gotten yourself to do the righteous thing in a difficult moment, and experienced the fruit of righteousness that the apostle Paul talks about here? The sense of sanctification and life and peace that comes with it? That’s the kind of life that God’s people discover that encourages them to pursue a godly life and leave sin behind.

Because not only have they discovered that God’s Law is good and sin is bad, But they’ve also discovered that God’s right – they can overcome it and pursue righteousness. It just takes hating sin, trusting God enough to see Him as our Master, and change what we live for. And if we do those things, God provides us so much help along the way – He sent the Holy Spirit to help us, He changes our hearts, He answers prayers, He causes everything to work together for the good of the people who love Him. There’s no way we can fail if we can find it within ourselves to love and trust Him.

Good morning, Happy Near Year. I hope everybody is awake, there’s no better place we can be on the first day of the year than together worshiping the Lord. Please turn to the book of Jude, a book in the Bible that challenges us to put first things first. In verse one the author introduces himself as the brother of James, like we’d know who that is. Notice in verse one this is Jude the brother of James. So who’s that?

Well there’s only one Jude in the Bible that we know had a brother named James. He was an elder in the very first church, in Jerusalem. Mark 6:3 says he had a brother named Jude. Now those two brothers also happen to have a brother named Jesus. Now there was also an apostle named Jude who was said to be OF James in Luke 6:16 (so it sounds to me like James was his dad), but the Jude we’re studying this morning does not include himself among the apostles anyway, as he says in Jude v. 17 . . . Jude 1:17. This Jude, then, is the brother of Jesus. Isn’t it interesting that he doesn’t just say, “Hello, this is Jude, Jesus’ brother, here.” No, he’d rather be known as the servant of Jesus and brother of James. Which is the more honorable approach. As we study his epistle, then, keep in mind that Jude used to follow Jesus around in diapers growing up. He remembers when Jesus went missing in Jerusalem and His parents were freaking out. He remembers when Jesus, the oldest son, decided to leave his widowed mother alone with at least 5 kids to become a Rabbi in Judea. And Jude still remembers the anger and doubt He felt toward Jesus and His claims to be the Messiah. And he recalls the moment that his heart finally turned, and he no longer saw himself as Jesus’ brother but as a servant of Jesus Christ, Jude 1. So it’s from the perspective of a formerly bitter unbeliever that this message comes to us, and he will be warning us against people like his old self who even disguise themselves as Christians.

At the beginning of his letter Jude tells us that he wants to just get right into the positives, the good stuff, like salvation and God’s love and security. But he says they’re not ready yet. Jude 1:2-3. Do you remember when we first started driving a car, and we used to adjust the mirrors and the seat, put the seatbelt on first, not as your backing up out of the driveway, maybe look around the car to see what we might hit. Cadence does all that I bet as a newer driver. But after a while we just go. Jude’s trying to get us back to that mindset of awareness first. Let’s look around and make sure we know what the dangers are and then we can focus on all the good parts.

And so for the next 15 verses Jude says in every way he can think of that there are some bad people we need to be aware of among us. And they’re seriously bad people. I think there’s a point in Jude about not being overly gracious to certain people. God doesn’t teach us here us to say, “They’re a little mixed up but they’re trying their best,” or “Yeah there off on this but I respect them.” I would personally rather do that, rather find the good in people and focus there. But Jude is showing every side of these people so that we can focus on the negatives. Jude 1:4. The Bible talks about God choosing long ago those who are in Christ. Ephesians 1:4 Not individual people, but those who would follow Christ when He came, God knew such people would exist and He chose them as His people. And this passage says there are another kind of people that God also foreknew. They would prey on organized religion as an opportunity for themselves. Their lust, their pride, people listen to them there, they get followings, they benefit from churches. In verse 5 Jude reminds us they will be punished for it, so don’t get your feathers ruffled too much, that’s not his point for telling us so that we’ll find them and slaughter them, God will do that. As a matter of fact when Jude finally does get around to telling us what to do about them, it’s not that at all. It’s more about how we must act despite their presence, and about having mercy on some and saving some and not stumbling. Jude 1:17-23. So his message is be aware of these people, brethren, so that they don’t catch us off guard.

He wants us to know what they’re like so we can identify them and avoid becoming tainted by them. So read with me beginning in verse 8 and we’ll go through verse 19. They’re dreamers, which is more of a guide to them than scripture. I had a study with someone who recognized the Bible’s message of salvation but said God spoke to her and told her she didn’t need to follow the Bible. What’s more authoritative – dreams or scripture? Facts or feelings? They contaminate, they pollute, they defile. They reject authority. They hate the powerful and speak evil of them. We need to be careful about how we speak of those in power, even if they are the devil. They speak evil about everything that just doesn’t make sense to them. They talk like they are experts about everything and they’re railing about it all.

They forge their own path like Cain. They choose greed over God like Balaam. They’re deadly rocks that sink ships out in the ocean.

They take without giving. Promise without providing. And they’re deader than dead. Like waves they seem to be doing a lot but only create foam. I always thought it was cool to see all of the green foam the ocean created in the rocks of San Diego beaches. But it was just air that was useless and stinky. They’re like stars depended upon by a navigator that keep moving.

They have mouths that: Grumble, so they’re unhappy all the time. Boast, so they’re arrogant. They flatter, so they’re manipulative. So why did Jude feel the need to spend so much time explaining these people to us when at the end he just says don’t be like that? Well for one it’s so that we’re informed. Jude 1:17-20. It shouldn’t surprise us when Christians turn out to be these kind of people. And then second so that we’ll know what not to be. Judge 1:20 says “But you.” I showed my kids some youtube videos of people being drunk so that they knew what it looked like. They were both funny and sad. I was hoping it might help them to not want to be that. I showed them videos of faith healers on TV hitting people in the head to heal them which was kind of funny. I think it helps to show them a contrast to the truth of scripture. This is the contrast. These are the kind of people God prepares His chains for because they’re bad people.

And now Jude shows us how we ought to act if we are going to grow. That’s what we want to have happen in 2023. The only way this church is going to grow is if you grow. If I grow. We don’t need to be a church full of malcontented grumblers being manipulative and divisive. We don’t need a bunch of Christians whose contribution is sea foam and hidden reefs for ships to hit, and waterless clouds and dead trees. We need people ready to build their faith and others up. And use prayer for growth. And who keep themselves kind and loving and compassionate like God. And who are tender-hearted and merciful because we all need you to be that way towards us because we need it. Even the doubters and the sinful.

And we need brethren who put God above all, as Jude concludes, Jude 1:24-25. Sometimes when we’re getting started we need not be too hasty and instead gauge the environment. Let’s assess today as we’re ready to forge our path. And then onward.

John 5:39. This morning’s lesson is about looking back into the Old Testament to see a Jesus that maybe we’ve missed.

Years ago I really started digging into my family’s past to see where I came from. I was really excited to confirm a rumor that we are descendants of Robert E. Lee. My grandmother was a Lee. So I turned over every leaf possible until I came to a husband and wife named Joseph and Susan Lee. But I could not get past them. I dug for every bit of information I could get. I know they were farmers living in Broome County New York, I even have a picture of the farm where used to live. I know about their kids, and I would love to go to New York and find our more information some time, but there’s still so much I don’t know. Nobody in my family remembers anything about them or has ever talked about them. Have you ever been desperate to know more about someone but it seems like the information is so sparse, or you’re always hungry to know more? I hope that’s how you feel about Jesus. What if I told you that there is so much more about Jesus available to you that you’ve been missing?

When the Lord said this, He wasn’t referring to the New Testament. It didn’t exist yet. He’s there in the Old, He says. So how many pages do you think He’s on back there? 5? 10? 20?

Well, since the whole thing is the scriptures, He must be in there a lot. When Jesus spoke to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, He showed them all the scriptures about Himself from Moses to the prophets. Luke 24:27. I heard a preacher say, “If your list of Old Testament prophecies about Jesus is less than the entire Old Testament, it falls short.” That may be a little extreme, but it makes an important point that Jesus is all over the Old Testament.

Someone put together a neat little chart going book by book through the Old Testament showing where Jesus is in each one. For example . . . Read them.

Let’s embed into our hearts the fact that our Lord is all over the Old Testament. And let’s look at a few glimpses of Jesus from the Old Testament. Starting with the last part of Isaiah. We all know about Isaiah 53 and hear it and quote it often. How well do we know the rest of that section? 42:1-7. Who is Jesus here? He’s a servant, He’s gentle, He’s commissioned by God to be given to us. Turn to chapter 49. Isaiah 49:1-4. This passage reminds me of John’s gospel focusing on Jesus’ rejection. He’s so disappointed even before He comes to see us. He’s despairing about His mission’s failure before it happens, but still determines to come try to save us. And then He speaks again in chapter 50. 50:4-11. So His second words are full of determination, just like when He made that turn for the cross in Luke 9. Again He speaks in chapter 61, and He’s talking about us there. 61:1-4. It’s us that He’s talking about. He rescued us and comforted us and set us free, And then look what we’re doing in verse 4! 61:4-7. We’re rebuilding the rubble of this world. We’re the world’s priests. We’ve inherited the wealth of the nations. We need to read these chapters and meditate on them. We can’t just read them and let them go. It’s deep and difficult and wonderful, and the Lord’s in there waiting for us to find Him and learn about Him.

He’s there in Zechariah 10:4. I started a sermon about Jesus the tent peg a while ago but didn’t really know where to go with it. Tent pegs hold things firm. Isa 22:23 “I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father's house. “ Nomads would use them to hang things on because you can trust the sturdiness of tent pegs. But that makes me think about other Old Testament stories about tent pegs and what we are supposed to learn about Jesus from them. Like the one we studied about recently in Oxley’s Bible class which Jael used to defeat the Canaanites. Also, Jesus here is our bow for battle. Let’s meditate on how Jesus is represented by that weapon.

Also, did you know Jesus was inside the Ark of the Covenant? Hebrews 9:4. Manna was in there, and Jesus is the manna. John 6:31-33. Also, the 10 Commandments were in there, and Jesus is the Word of God. Aaron’s rod was also in there, the rod of the High Priest, his living staff. And Christ is our true High Priest. So we need to meditate on the contents of the Ark and consider Jesus.

The Lord’s there throughout the Old Testament, giving us many different sides of who He is. He’s the rock, the cities of refuge, Noah’s Ark, outside the camp, He scolded the Jews for not hearing Jonah’s testimony about Him.

He’s the whole nation of Israel. Which is why Jesus also goes into the wilderness to get tempted, and goes out into the wilderness to get baptized, and goes up on the Mountain to provide His teachings. He’s the perfect version of Israel and every major character in the Old Testament it seems. They are types of Christ – Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac. Jesus is there in all of those stories, in case you want to go back and learn more about Him. How badly do you want to get to know Him? How badly do you want to find Him in here? This is where He shows Himself, on every page. The ones who take the time to know Him are the ones who know how to conduct themselves in the house of God. James 4:8-10.

Good morning. I think most people know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, And He was raised in Nazareth, But maybe less know that Jesus when He became older made His home in Capernaum.

So it shocking to see Him condemn them so strongly in Matthew 11:23 after spending so much time there: Matthew 11:23 It seems they thought they would be exalted right up into heaven, maybe because Jesus chose them as His home? Kinda like the man who said, “Did I not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name?” And Jesus says I never knew you. Let’s take a look this morning at what happened in Capernaum.

Capernaum is a little city on the north end of the sea of Galilee, as you can see on google maps. Down here is Nazareth about 20 miles away. Capernaum was about 200 years old when Jesus first arrived. So 50 years old than Grand Junction.

It was a beautiful little fishing village right on the sea, maybe looking something like this: Their population was around 1500 back then. Josephus described it as a fertile spring. The people there had a reputation for hospitality. Josephus was taken there after he was wounded in war, and the people cared for him. Which I thought was cool. Maybe some of Jesus’ neighbors took care of Him. It was a Jewish city, and they were peaceful. They did not join the rebellion against the Romans like others did. The city had no walls. They had oil and grain mills and fishing boats. Their name means village of comfort. “Caper” means village, and Naum is like Nahum, which means comfort. Some speculate that the city was named after Nahum. So this is a city where most people would want to settle and raise their kids. So what is so bad about them and Jesus is condemning them to hell? They’re not Las Vegas, they’re just a quiet village.

Some people you know really well were raised in Capernaum. Who do you think might have lived in a fishing village? Peter and Andrew came from there, Working as fishermen on the sea of Galilee. Attending the Synagogue of Capernaum. Probably met his wife there, whose mother Jesus healed in Capernaum. James and John might have been from there as well since they were partners with Peter in the fishing business. Their father Zebedee raised them somewhere around there. Mark 1:21, 29. So you’ve got a beautiful, peaceful city, with good families that brought us 1/3 of the apostles.

And then when Jesus finally grew up and began spreading the gospel He made Capernaum His own hometown. Matthew 4:13. And they were receptive of Him. Concerning Nazareth where Jesus was from, the scriptures say: Matthew 13:53, 58. But that’s not true of the Caperneans They must have been receptive to Jesus’ miracles because He did a lot of them there. How many miracles would you guess Jesus performed while at Capernaum?

At least 9 and then a lot more that we don’t have specifics about. The Centurion and his servant were from Capernaum. Do you remember that story? When he begged Jesus to come heal Him and Jesus said He would. And then Jesus said he was a man of great faith, living in Capernaum. So there definitely was some good in that city. Two fishing miracles occurred there. And Jesus walked on the water towards Capernaum. Peter’s mother-in-law was healed in Capernaum, which made the entire city come to the door to be healed. Mark says the whole city came to Jesus that night bringing their ill, Mark 1:33-34. Finally, the four friends tore through the roof to get the paralyzed man to Jesus. And you remember why. Because the house was so crowded with Capernauns hungry to learn from Jesus that they couldn’t get in any other way! Mark 2:12-13.

So what happened? The next thing you know, Jesus is cursing them to hades. Matthew 11:23-24.

Clearly they didn’t do enough. You’re not going to be exalted to heaven, Capernaum! That’s not what we think, is it? Are you going to be exalted to heaven because you’re you and not somebody else? You’re not like the people who don’t go to church, Or who are struggling with major moral issues like drugs or are in prison. And you’re not like the people who won’t lead prayers and who won’t teach Bible classes, and who would never preach a sermon. Who don’t give like you give. Capernaum thought they were fine for some reason, but Jesus says, Matthew 11:20. They wouldn’t change. What do you need to change about yourself? Where do you need to repent? Repentance isn’t saying sorry, it’s making changes. What about the things you’re not doing enough of? Will you get a pass for those things? Are there things that we aren’t doing because of some excuse that we’ve made? It’s not going to work, I’m not good enough to do that, I’m not talented enough (basically the excuse of the one-talent man), not enough money, not a nice enough house, not educated enough, not knowledgeable enough. We need to take note of the fact that Capernaum, Who was way better than Nazareth, and much more receptive to Christ than they were, Whose faith far surpassed others to the point that Jesus COULD perform many miracles there. And who produced Peter, Andrew, James and John, and hosted the Savior of the World during His preaching. And was so loved by the Roman centurion sent to occupy them that he built them a synagogue, Luke 7:5. And Jesus still tells them they didn’t do enough. Let’s make sure we’re not letting up in our work for God.

Capernaum didn’t do enough and they didn’t listen to Jesus deeply enough. There were many instances where we see them sitting at the feet of Jesus, soaking in His message. He would go into their Synagogue to teach them, Mark 1:22. They would come to Him in His house, and if they were lucky they’d get close enough to hear Him: Mark 2:1-2. As He walked along the shore, the people of the city would crowd around Him to the point that the only place He could go was into the water, Luke 5:1-3a. And they still didn’t hear what He was saying. How do you know that you heard Him? We’ve all read the Bible and heard lots of people preach about it. Obviously that doesn’t mean we’ve heard. So how do we know? And the only answer I know is what Jesus said at the end of the parable of the sower. He actually told this parable to the Caperneans, at His home. Mark 3:20. Jesus said Matthew 13:8-9. So how do we know? It’s by what we produce. You’re changing, growing, you’re not the same person you were before. It’s slow growth, but there’s definitely fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, the work that you do. But Capernaum couldn’t hear that message, and Jesus said, Matthew 13:13.

Capernaum didn’t do enough, they didn’t listen to Jesus deeply enough, And they didn’t want deeply enough. They were happy to be nice to people. They loved hosting Jesus in their city, And the miracles excited them and they acknowledged His power. But they really didn’t have the desperation for the Lord that a Christian needs to have. Let me show you where the scriptures indicate they got tired of Jesus. John 6:47-59, 66. So what happened? Why did these good, decent people have such a hard time with this message? When I was in elementary school, our school did a fundraiser where you had to sell magazine subscriptions. And if you sold enough, there was this machine set up in the auditorium where you could pull a lever and win prizes. The machine talked to you too. It would say, “It’s not funny, you win money!” And you’d get like a buck or something. It was cool, it was exciting to have that. But then afterward we’d all leave and go on with our lives and I’m sure they’d turn off the auditorium lights and there was the machine sitting there in the dark. I imagine Jesus was like that for the Caperneans. It was cool to have Him there. He gave them so much. He had their vote, they’d talk about Him, but they didn’t love Him desperately. They didn’t want to consume Him, they didn’t want to take it that far.

Matthew 11:23-24. I wonder how much God expects of me compared to others. I was raised by a good family, in a good church with great preaching. I did good in school, had some amazing opportunities to learn. I’m blessed. What am I doing? How much more does He expect of me, and I’m not delivering? I hope He says to me someday, “Well done,” and not “You thought wrong.” And you don’t need to worry about Him saying that to you. Because you’re not dead yet, and you have right now to make a choice.

You’ve heard about the conflict in Israel and the West Bank where mostly Palestinians live that’s happening right now in the Middle East. This is actually a picture inside the West Bank of a place that I’d like to talk about tonight. Today it’s known as Nablus, and it’s a city that sits up against a couple of hills which you can see in the background. But in ancient times this was the city of Shechem.

Here it is in Google Maps, right in the middle of the promised land.

And here is a satellite view up closer of the city and the region Jacob’s well Mt. Ebal

Shechem was the site where Joshua spoke his famous words demanding Israel make a choice. Joshua 24:15. Tonight I’d like to show you how we are like Shechem, always at a crossroads, always making decisions whom we will serve, and when we’re done we’ll come back to Joshua’s choice that he calls us to make and consider where we stand in the presence of the Lord.

We first read about Shechem way back in Genesis chapter 12 after God commands Abram to leave Ur to a land that will be shown to him. Within six verses he has arrived in Canaan’s land and rests in Shechem. It’s the first part of Canaan that we’re introduced to, and Abram here build an alter to the Lord and God reaffirmed his promise here. Later on Jacob settled in Shechem as well, and dug a well that still exists today, which is the place where Jesus met the Samaritan woman in John 4. It was also the place where Jacob buried his household idols, perhaps finally committing himself fully to the Lord after decades of faithlessness, Genesis 35:4.

We also see Shechem having a prominent place in the life of Joseph because it was there he went looking for his brothers on the day he was kidnapped by them and sold into slavery. So it was the last city along with Dothan that Joseph saw before leaving for Egypt. Later on Joseph commanded that his bones be buried back in Canaan’s land and of course they ended up in Shechem, Joshua 24:32.

So Shechem was always important to the Patriarchs. And then throughout its history it became a center of Israel’s choice between good and evil. Some horrific things happened there, like Jacob’s daughter Dinah being raped by a man named Shechem, perhaps the namesake of the town. And then the retaliation of the sons of Judah in killing every male in the city for Shechem’s sin. There was another great sin that occurred there in the book of Judges, when Gideon’s son Abimilech wanted to be king (tell the story).

Take a look at this picture of Shechem. Do you see the two mountains in the background? Those are the blessing and curses mountains where God had Israel pronounce what would happen to obedience and disobedience. Gerizim is on the left, Ebal on the right. Notice the tow mountains looming over Shechem, constantly reminding God’s people of the choices they must make and the consequences of their actions. Shechem was always a city within the shadow of choice.

It became a city of refuge, where murderers were protected until their fate was decided.

And then later in 1 Kings 12 it was the place Rehoboam gathered Israel for his coronation. And the people gave him a choice. 1 Kings 12. As a result the people rebelled with most followed King Jeroboam who turned Shechem into a place of Idolatry. He made it his capital, put an idol just down the road in Bethel, doing all of this within the shadow of the mountains and on top of the buried idols of Jacob. After God conquered Israel with the Assyrians, the people of this area became known as the Samaritans and were half Jewish and half Gentile. And they build their own temple on top of the mountain of blessing, Gerizim, and followed only the books of Moses as their scripture and taught that this is the mountain where people ought to worship God. This is what the Samaritan woman was talking about in John 4 when she said . . . John 4. And that’s the last we see of this city. Jesus bringing truth back to its people and proving them a choice.

So Shechem was always in the middle of the action, for better or worse. It was bought out of the hands of sinners by righteous Abraham and settled by our forefathers in the faith. And God chose those mountains looming over Shechem as the reminders of His blessings and curses. Curses for choosing sin and blessings for choosing obedience. It’s there that Jacob made a choice to bury his family’s idols. Abraham had left his family and their idols and moved to Shechem. And then its history was filled with so much sin and violence, starting with rape and murder and then progressing to violence and idolatry until Jesus brought the gospel of spirit and truth back to the region.

And so perhaps that’s its greatest lesson to us from scripture. As Joshua stands in Shechem under the shadow of Gerizim and Ebal, he calls us to make a choice as well today, whom are we going to serve? Are we ready to bury our idols, whatever it is that draws us away from God, lust, laziness, power, family, whatever they are, And heed the warning of the one mountain and pursue the blessings of the other and declare our place with the patriarchs who made the choice before us?

Israel stood on each of those mountains shouting amen to the blessings and curses. Let’s choose well.

Romans 1:20 says . . . There are two things revealed about God from creation – His power and nature. We know about God’s power, we see it in His creation of a universe that’s beyond our comprehension, the engineering it took to create the human body. The creation of a spiritual world that is beyond our comprehension. He can do anything, beyond what we can ask or think. But also His divine nature is clearly seen as well. And that’s something apart from his great power. We can learn things about God’s nature, His essence and His personality from His creation as well, which is what Vines says this word means. What kind of God do we have? Based on His creation. Based on beauty, love, emotions, relationships, pleasure, along with His great power? It all speaks to us. Tonight we’re going to take a look at the first two chapters of the Bible, but from a different lens than usual. I invite you to think about the personality of God that manifests in the Creation from Genesis 1-2. Let’s read it together first.

The Lord was so thorough and complete. He created the heavens and earth, 1:1, and then molded and shaped until it was just right and every detail was covered. It’s hard for me to understand that the level of detail on this earth is replicated thousands and millions and billions of times on planets and comets and places throughout this universe we’ll never get to see. Mona Lisas everywhere, that He finely crafted, that no one ever gets to see. He is not the type to leave anything unconsidered or undone. And He is a Methodical God. First He creates His materials, then v. 10 He organizes the water and the land. And then He begins filling each up; the land with plants and trees, then animals. The sea with life. But the sky is empty to He fills it up with the sun, moon and stars. And everything is given a ruler. The day/sun and the night/moon, and the earth and animals were to be ruled by man. He worked until everything was perfect and finished, step by step, one thing at a time. And have you ever wondered, “Why 7 days? Why not just one second?” And while I don’t know the answer to that I do know that He chooses to work through plans and steps and processes. That’s the kind of God we have. So don’t be surprised when things take time, when answers aren’t instant, expect and accept processes. And He did it well, 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31.

He is so pleased with His creation of us, 1:31 (not good but very good). Your sin does not cause God to hesitate in His creation of You, You do not fill Him with anxiety and dread. Immediately He involves man in His process, Giving Him freedoms, 1:29-30. And responsibility, 2:15. And seeking His input, 2:19. What sort of God is this, that entrusts His beautiful “very good” creation into the hands of His children? Who goes out of His way to make Him feel important and needed?

God created man to be needy from the beginning. He made us incomplete. Not imperfect, He purposefully made us incomplete and with needs. We have to keep getting food. He didn’t have to make us need sleep. He showed Adam his need for companionship, 2:18. But He created Adam with that hole in his life first. And He makes us continually return to Him to get those needs fulfilled.

God Is Open And Communicates With Mankind He would walk in the garden with Him, 3:8. He brought the animals to Adam, 2:19. When He operated on Adam to form Eve, He explained to Adam what He did, 2:23. What a different picture than so many have of God as a distant unreachable power.

We See God The Teacher In The Creation Story Obviously God instilled in Adam a vast amount of knowledge because Adam could communicate and think; But there were also many things God wanted to instill through teaching, Which we see in the creation of Eve, 2:18-20; And we see it also in the creation of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil, 2:15.

We See God Resting Again, I don’t understand so much about what that means, but there is a lesson about God stopping to enjoy the fruits of His labor and achieving satisfaction in it. He enjoyed it, the coolness of the day, walking in His garden, observing its goodness.

Now if this is your God: Working and planning and building until He’s done, Doing everything the best it can be done; Believing in mankind; Making us needy and dependent; Communicating Teaching Enjoying.

Then what sort of personHow well do you know your God, John 17:1-3?

Revelation 2:1-5.

It’s hard as a preacher to have close friends within the congregations that you serve, But I’ve made a few over the years that I’ve deeply cherished. I miss my friend Jason from Sunnyvale California. He is one of the most passionate people I’ve ever known. He would get interested in something and throw himself into it 100%. When Laura and I first met him, he and his wife decided, “You know, we really love snakes and spiders.” Pretty soon they were all over the house.

After a while he got bored of them, and sold them all or something, And then decided that he really loved motorcycles. And suddenly he knew everything about motorcycle gear and had a beautiful bike and would go ride it at a race track. And then he got bored of that, and now I believe he’s thrown himself into music and become an excellent musician. What I most cherished is that when Laura and I first met him he had just started throwing himself 100% into God and His Word. And our Bible studies were epic. What love is presently your focus? That’s the question Jesus addressed with the Ephesians here in Revelation chapter 2. Which helps us to evaluate that question for ourselves.

And one of the nice things about that passage is that it provides a list of things that do not necessarily indicate that God is our passion. One time I gave Laura a ceiling fan as a gift for I think our anniversary. Apparently it was not as romantic as I was hoping. Ceiling fans do not say, “I am in love with you.” When we were dating I wrote her a song and played it at our wedding. I was doing pretty good back then. She used to write me notes all the time and I would find them in various places. That was our first love. How do we know if we’ve left that first love or not? Notice the “ceiling fans” of the Ephesians, the things they are offering to God but according to Jesus do not equal the love they used to have. READ 2:2-3. That seems like a pretty strong list, doesn’t it? Like probably stronger than a ceiling fan? Jesus says, You Ephesians, I know your good deeds, but your love is weak. You toil, but your love has faded. I see your perseverance, but it’s empty. And you fume when you see the evil in your world, but you don’t love Me. You put to test false preachers, but why won’t you examine your love? It seems like a great list, but it’s not. I’ll bet we each have great lists to prove our love too that ultimately is off the mark.

This passage in Revelation 2 reminds me of God’s message about love from 1 Corinthians 13. Do you remember what Paul says in the first three verses? 1 Corinthians 13:1. So if I met someone today who genuinely, legitimately had the gift of speaking in tongues, no question, I’d be pretty convinced they were doing right spiritually, wouldn’t you? I’d want to know more about their faith and why God chose them for that gift, because they must love God. Apparently that’s not necessarily true. You can have the gift of tongues and still be worthless. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says . . . This one’s hard for me to understand. Someone with ultimate faith but not love? I don’t even get how those are two different things. A person can say, “I have literally moved a mountain with my faith” and Jesus might still say, “Well you’ve left your first love.” And then 13:3. And people have given their bodies for the sake of their faith. I’ve long admired Rachel Scott who was shot at Columbine for her faith. She was asked with a gun pointed at her, “Do you believe in God?” And she said yes and lost her life.

What an amazing resume to offer to God in proof of our love for Him – that we can speak in tongues and prophesy, and have complete faith and full surrender. God, how is this not enough proof that I love you? And God says, well those things aren’t love.

So what is it then?

Let’s look back at Revelation 2 to see if there are any clues. So what did you notice?

Well in verse 5 Jesus commands them to do the things they were doing at first. Getting back to our first love is getting back to the spirit of obedience we had at the beginning. The earliest works we did were the ones where someone told us this is what you’re supposed to do if you’re going to be a Christian. Or we saw in the Bible that this is the thing to do and so we did it. Love is doing those things that God wants us to do.

And this is a message throughout scripture. Deuteronomy 10.

John 14:15 John 14:21-24 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

1 John 5:1-3.

Do you need to return to the love you had for God at first? Get back to that spirit of obedience that you once had, when your life was defined by the question, “Lord, what do you want me to do, I’ll do it.” This is it. Search the scriptures. This is how to love God. It’s obeying Him. Obey the commandments. Watch your language. Control your lust. Don’t forsake church assemblies. Control your temper. Dress modestly. Study the Bible. Pray. Help poor people. And then God will say of you that you are a loving son and daughter. Loving God is obedience. But I think there’s more to returning to our first love here than just obedience, because the Ephesians were already DOING a lot of the things they were supposed to do:

They already had . . .

Also, Paul indicated that . . . Speaking in tongues, all knowledge, all faith, giving to the poor, sacrificing, Was not enough, and some of those were acts of obedience clearly.

The other part of it is the reason for the obedience. Hopefully our first love isn’t good deeds. We’re going to do the deeds we did at first because that was the honeymoon phase of our relationship with God when we would do anything for Him. When our attitude towards Him led to action for Him. I figured out a long time ago that it’s not helpful telling people that I’m a preacher. Because as soon as I do they turn into a different person. It’s amazing sometimes how stark is the contrast. Why does that happen? Is it because all the sudden they fell in love with God again because of my presence? Or do they have other reasons do behave differently in that moment? Like you just went from the biggest racist I know to a saint. I’m not buying it. You’re behaving right now. Is it because you want to impress us or because you have a deep love for God?

We once did everything for God. We tried to do our best to please Him. We would go to church all the time. We’d sing though we really didn’t want anyone to hear us. We’d say a prayer though we were embarrassed. We made an effort to read our Bibles more. We even tried to think of someone to invite to church. Or we wrote a card to somebody who needed it even though we’re not card-writing people. We tried really hard because we wanted to make God happy. And if we’ve stopped doing that, then we’ve left our first love. Over time we just don’t try so hard anymore. Do you ever feel like you’re just here now? There’s certain things we still do, sure, like the Ephesians did, but we do those things because that’s who we are, not because we’re trying to please God. Some people are so proud of their morality when the truth is they’d be just as moral if they were atheists. It’s not for God, it’s for themselves.

Brother, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place. I think it’s important to add that this is a collective warning, not a singular one. We as a church need to be obeying God because we love Him so much. And if we’re not, we will be ended. Every great church over the centuries has met its end. One day centuries ago, the Jerusalem church that once had thousands of members, and the apostles and the brother of Jesus as an elder, dwindled down until a few that remained decided to disband. The great Antioch church is gone. Rome, Philippi, all gone. This valley needs us to not get our lampstand removed, and that’s going to require people who love God so much that they are seeking ways to obey Him.

To those who still haven’t left that honeymoon stage with God, who still love to please Him and give to Him, well done, and continue to be an example to the rest of us. We see your love and your deeds. To the rest of us, the scripture says

1 Corinthians 16:22. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

Good morning. I’m going to be talking about gossip this morning, and I feel like I need to say up front it’s not because I believe there’s some person here in particular who needs this lesson (lying’s a sin, preacher), But because I want to focus more on our efforts to be a family and learn how to love each other, and I believe how we talk about each other is fundamental to our love as a church family.

Ephesians 2:19 says . . .

And Romans 12:10 says . . . And the Greek word for love here in this verse is phileo, brotherly love. We are a family of God’s people devoted to each other as brothers and sisters in love. And I think it’s fair to say that we’re still a new family in many ways not having been together for all that long, and we’re still learning how to love each other. That is something that’s learned. I’m learning your boundaries and you’re learning mine. I’m learning what makes you feel appreciated and what makes you feel threatened. I’m learning how to honor you above me.

I want to talk this morning about how we talk about each other. I heard a preacher say one time that we have a responsibility to guard each other’s reputations. I appreciated that comment. When you’re not around, I will say things about you that will bless you, not curse you. And when I hear things being said about you while you’re not around, I’m going to stick up for you. I think we try to do that, but it’s so hard to be good at it. I know I can do better at this.

But we need to be really good at it, because Jesus says, Matthew 12:36-37. So every time we say something we probably shouldn’t have said about somebody, God’s going to hold us accountable for it. So how can we be sure that our words about each other are godly? I want to share with you some rules that I’ve heard brethren use to justify gossiping about people that I don’t believe are necessarily Biblical and can get us in trouble, And then I’d like to share some scriptures that provide Biblical guidelines for how we talk about each other.

First, “Gossip is allowed if it’s true.” These are the people who will say things like, “I know nobody else is going to say it, but I will, he’s ugly. And she’s fat. Facts are facts.” What do you think? If it’s true, is it OK to talk negatively about people? Now of course God wants us to always speak truth, but that doesn’t mean that we have to say everything that we know is true. I know a lot of true things about my kids that I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want me saying from up here in the pulpit. I’m not going to tell you things about my family just because they’re true because they would be hurt.

Here’s another rule that I’ve heard: “Yeah, I’m not afraid to tell you what I think about them, I’d say it if they were here, too.” Is this justification for saying negative things about people? I’m certain there are some things just don’t need to be said about people either to their face or to another person.

Rule #3. This gossip is OK because I need to vent or bounce my ideas off of somebody. Certainly it’s valuable to seek counsel at times concerning our thoughts and opinions. But I suspect that lots of stories get spread this way, and bad feelings about other people become amplified and multiplied if we’re not careful.

So what do the scriptures teach? What stands out to me about scripture and gossip is that this is a difficult subject requiring a great amount of wisdom.

Which is probably why the scripture says . . . James 3:2

One example of the complexity of this subject is that we often see godly people talking negatively about others and it was OK. For example, Paul once listened to gossip about the Corinthian church from Chloe’s people. 1 Corinthians 1:11. Nobody that I know ever read verse and thought, “What a bunch of sinners Paul and Chloe’s people gossiping like that!” It was important for Paul to know what’s going on over there. He also heard another serious report from somebody about a man sleeping with his father’s wife. 1 Cor 5:1. Oooh, Paul, you’re gossiping! No, he’s not. He needs to know about it so he can deal with it. And then do you remember later when Paul drags Peter and Barnabas through the mud in a letter to the Galatians? Galatians 2:11-13. And then he drags Demas through the mud in 2 Tim 4:9-10, along with Hymenaeus and Alexander. Why was this gossip OK? Well, because it caused good. The Galatians needed to hear that God loved the Gentiles despite the actions of Peter. Timothy needed to be warned about his fallen brethren. And we need to have the wisdom to know when to share unflattering information about people as well. It just better be a really good reason if we’re gonna do it. Also, there’s nothing wrong necessarily with being very critical of people in your conversations with others, if you have a good reason for doing so. God called Judah stupid through Jeremiah, 4:22. And Abigail told David that her husband was a fool, 1 Samuel 25:25. Esther told people that Haman was wicked. Paul said Cretans were always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. So If it can do some good to talk bad about somebody, it’s not wrong. Let’s just make sure that’s what we’re doing though.

Also, sometimes something a terrible thing happens to somebody, and it’s OK to talk about it. When calamity struck Job, it’s a good thing his friends found out so they could come and comfort him. Somebody had to have “gossiped” to them about it at some point. Job 2:11. When you talk about other people’s tragedies, why are you talking about it? Is it just to talk, or are you trying to do good in some way?

Are they just vain words coming out of our mouths, or do the words serve some kind of godly purpose?

So we have our rules for what makes our gossip OK:

It’s OK as long as it’s true.

As long as I’m willing to say it to their face.

If I just need to talk about it. But what are the Biblical rules? Let me offer some suggestions.

Number one, Focus on spreading good gossip about people. Like Barnabas did when he talked up Paul to the Jerusalem church. They weren’t accepting Paul, so Barnabas bragged on him. We need to spend more time spreading that kind of gossip. Do you know how I’ll feel if I found out you’ve been blabbing all kinds of nice things about me to your friends and family? I’ll probably feel embarrassed and be pressured into being on my best behavior. Isn’t it nice when you say something good about someone and it gets back to you that they heard it? Isn’t it nice when someone says, “Oh, I’ve heard people talk about how talented you are!”

Number two: Don’t gossip about somebody without good reason. Why are you saying it? And, “Because I’m upset or frustrated” isn’t a good reason.

Don’t forget that every careless word will be held against us. The NKJV translates it as “idle” word, a word that doesn’t go anywhere or do anything.

What’s your reason for saying it? Usually when scripture condemns gossip, it’s talking about folks who are just babbling. Just talking to talk.

Prov 11:13

Some older women get into the habit of . . . 1 Tim 5:13. So what are they doing wrong? Whispering, talebearers. Don’t say it unless you have a spectacular reason, unless those words are going to become godly actions. If people are just doing this . . .

Trust will vanish. Proverbs 11:13

The atmosphere will be contentious. Prov 26:20-22.

So you’d better have a really good reason for saying it. And if you do, then say it, whether it’s flattering information or not.

Rule number three: Don’t gossip if it’s just going to hurt the person you’re talking about. If you say this, are you helping somebody or hurting them? Are you being their friend or bringing them down?

Proverbs 16:28 says . . . This reminds me of the preacher I heard who pointed out that we need to be guarding each other’s reputations. We need to do whatever we can to show kindness to people especially when they’re not around to defend themselves. 1 Cor 14:26 says let ALL things be done for edification, not for tearing each other down.

Rule number four: Make certain it’s true.

Psalm 101:5 says . . .

Slander is . . .

So is it wrong to talk about people when they’re not around? No. Is it wrong to say negative things about people when they’re not around? No. As long as we follow the Biblical rules about gossip, then we’re OK. And that means doing a lot of spreading of good gossip about people, Having a godly purpose for saying what we’re saying about them, an unselfish purpose, Not saying anything to be hurtful, And making sure that everything we’re saying is true. And if we do those things then we will avoid the wrath of the Lord at the last day. It’s overwhelming to think how many people will be condemned for their vain words. Let’s pray hard that it doesn’t happen to us.

Hebrews 12:15

I heard a story years ago about a man named Victor Frankl had been heled in a Nazi concentration camp in his younger days. He says he spent three years there. He watched his parents die, his brother, wife and children. The Nazis had taken everything from him. But he realized the one thing they could not take from him was his mind, unless he gave it. So he became stubborn and determined to be at peace. When the Bible talks about us giving up our minds in this way, it uses the word “bitterness.”

The Bible word translated “bitterness” is a little different than what we normally think of. It literally means “sharp, pointed,” like somebody stabbing us with a pencil. So a bitter taste in the Biblical sense would mean a taste that is so sharp it stabs our tastebuds. Curdled milk. Grapefruit. Coffee beans. Those would be bitter tastes, but Bibl people used “bitter” in reference to all of their senses. A sharp, shrill sound to your years. A strong odor. And then a sharp, distasteful food. Bitter things offend the senses so that you can’t get the taste, smell, sound of our your head. We’ll always remember some of those experiences.

And sometimes that happens to us emotionally as well. We have a bad experience that we can’t let go of. Like anger. The Bible says anger is bitter. Hosea 12:14. Jealousy is bitter. James 3:14. Lamenting and weeping is bitter. Micah 2:4, Zechariah 12:10. One thought that occurred to me studying the definition of bitter is that, Biblically speaking, we don’t get bitter. People aren’t bitter. They consume bitter things and then retain them inside. Instead of spitting them back out, for example. I heard that farmers and hunters in Africa and India catch monkeys by setting out a hollowed-out coconut and then putting some kind of food inside it, like nuts or a banana. The monkey will put his hand inside to grab the treat, and then he can’t get his fist back out. And there’s no way he’s letting go of what’s inside. So the hunter grabs the coconut and has himself a monkey. It’s not that we’re bitter, it’s that we won’t let go of bitter things. What poisons do we have festering in our hearts and minds? And why won’t we let them go? Why would you hold onto it all of these years instead of letting it go or spitting it out? It’s disgusting.

Please turn back to Hebrews 12. Verse 15 says, Hebrews 12:15. But really the discussion about bitterness began in verse one, which says . . . Hebrews 12:1.

The whole chapter is about things we ingest that harm us yet we find hard to put down. Verses 1-3 talk about sin, burdens, shame, hostility. Hebrews 12:1-3. I had forgotten about this, but when one of the kids was little, they picked up an ice cube, and after a while it got really cold and hurt. And they started crying, but they didn’t know to put something down when it starts hurting and it will feel better. And I wonder how often we cry out to God about our problems and He sees the same thing. And He would say to us, “Well, put it down! We can lay aside the sin, and we don’t need to carry the burden. We can embrace the shame or despise it.

And then verse 5 talks about dealing with the discipline of the Lord. Hebrews 12:5-11. So it’s interesting. Here is God explaining that the difficulties of life that are happening to us providentially, That we consider the bitterness of life, And ironically God is telling us they are designed to bring us peace. Hebrews 5:11. So what’s going on? Is hardship bitter or bringing us peace? I suspect it’s up to us – will we allow burdens to polish us or will we grab onto them and not let them go?

But how do we let them go? Let’s conclude by looking at the four answers from this chapter on how to let go of bitter things. Number one, Run the race. Hebrews 12:1. Keep competing and don’t slow down. Bitterness can be discouraging and paralyzing and then we won’t feel like doing anything. But giving up – I’m not going to talk to that person anymore, I’m not going to try and work it out or get along with them – It’s just gonna let more bitterness in. Instead, keep being a blessing to others. Romans 12:14-21.

Number two, Strengthen ourselves. Hebrews 12:12-13. Zoey has two loose front teeth. She’s never had them before. People have told her to start wiggling them so they’ll come out. But it’s scary. So she finally got up the courage and wiggled and got one out. I imagine bitterness is like that. Nobody’s going to remove bitter things from us. We have to do it. And if we can’t, we’d better get strong enough to pull them out. We must strengthen ourselves to get them out.

Number 3, Pursue peace and sanctification. Hebrews 12:14. We’re still talking about bitterness here. The next verse is our main text. So here our weapon against bitterness is to quit being ornery. Instead of being mad and cutting people off, seek understanding and reconciliation. That person hurting you is a child of God full of sin and problems like you. Don’t make them your enemy. And then sanctification means we are to be set apart, we are to be different than them. They will treat us one way, but we will be different. They resist us, we pursue them.

And then number 4, Show gratitude. Hebrews 12:28. This section is one of my favorite images in scripture. “On Zion’s glorious summit stood a numerous host redeemed by blood.” That comes from here, beginning in verse 18. Here’s all of the great saints of history standing with the angels of God, all gazing up the hill waiting for a word from their Lord, and we’re there. In that light, how big a deal is that thing you’re so torn up about? Come on, you’re standing at Zion with the saints. Hebrews 12:28. To overcome bitterness can only be accomplished from the perspective of deep gratitude. Because otherwise we’re going to feel too wounded to want to change.

If we can’t remove the bitter things, we need to understand there are serious consequences. Hebrews 12:15-17. We’ll miss it. Because we couldn’t put it down. Put it down. He will lift you up.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything” (Col 1:15-18). There was a movie out years ago, a comedy, about a race car driver and part of his humor was anytime he prayed he would pray to baby Jesus. “Dear baby Jesus.” Because he said he like that Jesus the best. It makes sense that people would like that version of Him the best – He’s tiny, innocent, harmless, cute. And often Jesus does want us to see some form of Himself similar to that - who is gentle and lowly in heart, the slain Lamb. But take another look with me tonight at the majesty of Christ so that we can remember that Jesus is the Firstborn. Turn to Colossians 1.

Colossians 1:15ff. He is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is “The radiance of his glory, and the exact representation of His [God’s] nature”. I’ve always imagined the Father as the sun, and Jesus as the rays transmitting the sun. Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). So that little baby ought to be just a little bit terrifying. What if the shepherds could have seen inside that baby to the Spirit that occupied it? How did God fit such glory inside something so finite? “ The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built,” much less the body of a child, 1 Kings 8:27. That baby is God and has all of the God qualities at birth: Heis truth in body form, John 3:33: “Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.” That child is truth. He won’t lie, and it would be against His nature to be wrong. He is faithfulness in the flesh, 1 Cor 10:13. I know that I’m not faithful. You can’t trust me like you can God. I’m going to make mistakes, I’m going to disappoint you. But this child that will never fail you. And He is able! 2 Cor 9:8. “ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” Just imagine, if you can think it, He can do it. He can do above all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). He’s just. What do you think of our legal system in this country? You can get the verdict you want by choosing the right judge. Heb 6:10. “ For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” Nothing unfair can ever emanate from that small body. And it might not look like it, but Jesus is an unquenchable fire. Heb 12:28-29. No one can defeat that child. No one could stop Him, human, angel or demon. So that’s what the Bible means by calling Him the image of God. And it’s also what “Son of God” means. That Word “Son” can throw us off today, because it makes it sound like He came into being at some point rather than being eternal. But it just means that He has all the qualities of the Father. Let me show you some examples. Listen to these verses to see what it’s talking about: 1 Kings 20:35. Does that mean his dad and mom was a prophet? No, it means he’s one of the prophets. Chr 9:30. The people belonging to the priests. Neh 12:28. He was part of the singers. I’m a son of the preachers, even though my dad wasn’t a preacher. Clint’s a son of the philosophers. Jesus is the only Son of God because He is the only one in that category besides the Father. Sometimes the Bible is more direct and simply says He is God. John 1:1, John 20:28, Heb 1:8 (Psalm 45:6). But in Colossians, He is the image of God in every way.

And He is the firstborn of all creation. And this doesn’t mean, like I thought years ago, that Jesus was created first before anything else. Because the Bible says He’s been around for eternity. Micah 5:2, Revelation 1:17. And it says He created all things, 1:16. So how could He create Himself? When the Bible calls that child the Firstborn, it’s referring to His status. It’s saying, that child lying there asleep is the Chief, the Highest One, the Heir, The King and the Preeminent One. It’s like when God called the nation of Israel His firstborn nation in Ex 4:22. They weren’t the first nation! Not even close. They were just the most important, the nation of God. Or when God called King DavidHis firstborn in Psalm 89:27. He was saying that is the highest of the Kings of the earth. Jesus is the Firstborn over all creation, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, 1 Timothy 6:15. He’s the Firstborn among us, if we’re willing to be His people, Romans 8:29.

Colossians 1:18 also adds that He was the Firstborn among the dead. Which makes it even more terrifying to die outside of Christ. Because He’s the Chief over on the other side. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the Firstborn of all Creation.

“For by Him were all things created.” - Col 1:16. It’s so hard to picture Jesus as a baby, young boy or as an adult and imagine the kind of power that He weilds. That’s the power that created every speck of dirt, mountain, river and continent. Every star, both dwarves and giants; every planet, along with every canyon and volcano and storm on each one. How many canyons did He make? How many mountains are there total? Every galaxy. Every comet that flies by. Think about the genius that was able to engineer our universe. He created atoms and molecules and chemicals. He devised DNA and cells and organs without matter even preexisting. And He made it for Himself. It’s His, this world that we’re existing in right now. I’ve wondered if He has His favorite parts of it out there somewhere, or here on this planet. On other planets. Everything was made by Him and for Him. There’s other worlds out there that were created by Jesus, in realms we are not yet allowed to see. That maybe are His favorite places. And the invisible is superior to the visible, so how amazing do you think it’s going to be? It’s no wonder the demons, who knew Jesus, cowered and begged before Him when they saw Him. I’ll bet they would have had the same reaction before Jesus as a child too. Jesus is not simply meek and lowly and kind. He is our Creator and the Firstborn of us all.

And finally, He is head of the Church. Which is the greatest entity of all creation, because the church is the only thing that will survive the coming destruction. When everything else melts away it will stand. And He will have preeminence over it.

He is the image of God, the Firstborn of Creation. He is God, Creator, and Ruler. How might you react in the presence of this Jesus? And now that He has escaped that frail body forever, How do you respond when He says to you, “Come to Me? Follow Me? Mark 16:16?

Romans 8:28. I’m so thankful for this verse. Because it means God won’t allow my failures as a preacher, father, husband and Christian against those who love God to be critical. No matter what happens or what anyone tries against God’s people, He will turn things into good. But if this is true that God is always doing good already regardless of what we’re doing, then what is the purpose of prayer?

He doesn’t need to tell us what’s good, He already knows that. He doesn’t need to hear our input on what is good, He’s already going to do it. Whatever I pray about this country won’t make God do any more good than He already was going to do. I think about Habakkuk’s prayer that God would deal with the wickedness of his people the Jews. And God revealed that He already had a plan in mind and was ready to put it into action. And it wasn’t anything that Habakkuk liked, actually, but it’s probably better that God stuck to His idea over Habakkuk’s. I don’t need to pray for the sick since I trust that God already is going to do the best thing for them. So there is nothing about Romans 8:28 that is contingent on our actions. His plans will succeed without my prayers, He won’t cause things or allow things to negatively hinder the saints, things will still caused to be good. Whether He’s working through our country or this church or our families. The burden is not on us and our prayers to make God make good decisions.

It means that without prayer God will still make sure that spiritual seekers find the truth. He doesn’t need our prayers for that. Matthew 7:7. There is no contingency in this verse on our prayers. Anyone who is weary and heavy-laden will be given rest if they come to Jesus with or without our help. Now I’m not suggesting we don’t pray for any of these things, but it’s important to understand why we pray and recognize and appreciate that God doesn’t need us to do all of the right thing. Even for you and me, God knows and will do the right thing without our input. Matthew 6:7-8. He knows what’s good and He’ll do that for you. As a matter of fact, He does good for both good and evil, Matthew 5:43-45. It may not always be pleasant, but it will be good.

So why should we pray then? Clearly we should, and it’s needed, Because otherwise the Spirit wouldn’t have said 1 Thessalonians 5:17. And Jesus wouldn’t have said WHEN you pray, Matthew 6:5.

The reality of the fact that God will do the right thing even without prayer is that prayer is not for Him but for us. Some things God puts prayer requirements on us before we can receive them, Like when we’re anxious, Philippians 4:6. Or when we sin and want forgiveness, 1 John 1: 9. We can also use prayer to request from God that we participate in His great plans, as Paul did In Colossians 4. Colossians 4:2-4. There are times in history when godly men made requests of God and He answered. Like Elijah who prayed that it wouldn’t rain and there was drought for 3 years. And I think, about why God granted that prayer. It’s not like it was a better idea than God already had, and it’s not like God was doing nothing, just waiting around for someone to give Him an idea about how to fix Israel. And the truth is Elijah’s plan ultimately didn’t work which was why he became so distraught at the end. But we are His children, and He loves us and so He finds a way to involve us in His great plans. Zoey will often have grand plans about things and then will say, “Is that a good idea?” “You know what we should do, we should go to the park today. Is that a good idea?” What are you supposed to say to something like that? We are God’s children and so He hears our requests. He clearly wants us to want to be a part of His work because He makes us a part of it, and wants us to make requests because He commands it. I love the idea of my prayer making a difference in someone’s life, and I do pray that God can find me useful in some small way in my life, and I know that He will answer that prayer because He loves me.

So if God doesn’t need our input, then what is the point of prayer? He knows already what we need before we ask Him. So why do we have to ask? He knows our anxieties already, so why do we have to pray to Him about them? There must be something that prayer does for us. Prayer builds our dependence on God. Prayer is where we truly become children of God. We are the children of God crying because we know we need our Father. And just like babies cry out often not fully understanding what’s wrong, we cry to Him hoping to be cared for. As a matter of fact, the verses immediately preceding our main passage, Romans 8:28, say beginning in verse 26, Romans 8:26-27. Psalm 4:1, 7:1-2, 10:1, 18:1-2, 22:1-2, 43:1, 63:1-8.

God’s not depending on us. He’s not counting on us. He doesn’t need our advice. He has a perfect plan in place without our input. Good will happen even if we never ask for it. You are something more to God than a tool for getting things done. You are children of God. And prayer is what will connect you to Him.

Matthew 1:1-7. Do you think you could do without some of the scriptures? For example, do we need the Old Testament? Do we really need to know all of the numbers recorded in the book of Numbers telling us how many people were in each tribe of Israel? What about all of the genealogies in the Bible? Has any of us really dug into those and gotten something out of them to use in our daily lives? This morning we’ll be looking at the genealogy of Jesus to see if we can get something out of it.

God assures us that it’s all teaching us and filling us with hope, Romans 15:4 says . . . Romans 15:4 So let’s take a closer look at the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1, and I want to show how it is an encouraging message to us.

Primarily the genealogy of Jesus is important because it shows that He qualifies as the Messiah because he descends from King David.

The Messiah had to trace his roots back to David. Isaiah 11:1 (Jesse is David’s father) Jeremiah 3:5 Psalm 89:36.

It should help our faith to know that the Old Testament promised the Messiah would be a descendant of David and Jesus fit that qualification. But it probably isn’t as important to us as it was to the first believers.

People used to be excited at the thought that this person might be the Messiah, like they were when John the Baptist came around.

The woman at the well and her people were constantly looking for the Christ. And they knew the scriptures told that He would be David’s son, so it was exciting for them to know that Jesus is an heir to David.

But that stuff probably meant more to them than us. There are some other things in Jesus genealogy that excite me and I want you to see. Because this is not a typical genealogy. I like doing genealogy work on my family, and I want to find all of the famous and interesting people that I’m descended from. That makes me feel special. Kings and doctors and artists. Jesus’ genealogy reminds me of the Kingdom of God. It’s filled with all kinds of people, and many who shouldn’t belong in the history of the greatest King who ever lived. There are rich people in it, kings, lots of Jews, But there are also many who were poor and common, there were gentiles, he listed women. This is not a genealogy that would make everyone proud. And it’s interesting that Matthew was the gospel written to the Jews who would scrutinize it most carefully.

Not only did Jesus include women in His genealogy (I found that important Jews wouldn’t include women in theirs), but they were scandalous women too. Matthew 1:3-6 Jesus was different when it came to women. He gave them and important place in His life and work. Luke 8:1-3 He exalted them, Like He did with the Canaanite woman whose faith was unequaled, Or the women granted the honor of being the first witnesses to the resurrection. He held a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well which was improper. And then He put them in His family tree. One women listed was Tamar in verse 3. She was a woman who had been treated unfairly by one of the Jew’s greatest fathers Judah. And she was the one who dressed up as a prostitute to get Judah to lust after her and have a child with her. So what a wholesome story. But she’s a great representative of the family of Christ, isn’t she? Because she’s us. Flawed, mistreated, sinful, and honored still by the Lord.

Rahab the harlot is there as well. And she didn’t just dress up as a harlot, she was one. Jesus often accepted sinful women in His life, like the woman caught in adultery and the Samaritan woman). She was also a gentile and a Canaanite. She shouldn’t be there but she is. She’s just the kind of person God would choose, isn’t she?

Ruth is in His genealogy, A moabitess who should not have been chosen as a wife for a Jew.

Deuteronomy 23:3 She was to be unclean for 10 generations as a Moabite. She had other gods, Ruth 1:15. But she of course proved that she belonged in the family of God despite how things looked. And now she is forever honored within the genealogy of Jesus.

Bathsheba is there too, another woman affected by the stain of sexual sin. Notice she’s not called David’s wife here but the wife of Uriah. She was the greatest failure of King David, but she was the one chosen as the ancestor of the Messiah. So if God is putting these people in the family of Christ, doesn’t that mean you must fit there too?

When you’re feeling like maybe you don’t belong in the family of God because of all of your sins and because of all the things you’re not and the things you can’t do, Turn to Matthew chapter one and read the genealogy of Christ and see the kind of people that He honors, And see that you fit right in. If you would like to be a part of the family of God this morning, you’ll need to come to God in obedience, ready to believe Him and confess His name, being baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sin.

Good morning.

Exodus chapter 3 verse 13 says . . . Ex 3:13-15.

I came across a video the other day of an ancient inscription in a cave near Israel that says Jesus is Present. It’s one of the oldest of Jesus from around 200 AD. And it’s in a cave because early Christians at that time were persecuted for their faith and had to hide in caves to worship.

I hope our kids won’t need to worship in a cave someday. But I do know that our society is becoming less Christian. Pew Research says it’s happening at a rapid pace. And many who profess to be Christian no longer believe the Bible’s history or morality. It’s our job to make sure that God is not forgotten within our culture. I invite you to remember with me for a few minutes this morning who are God is.

He’s mentioned in the first verse in the Bible. Genesis 1:1. And the word translated “God” here is teaching us some things about our God.

God here calls Himself Elohim in this verse, which means the Strong One. The first thing God wants us to know about Him is that He is powerful and mighty and strong. What’s the first impression you want people to have of you? Maybe that you’re nice, or hard-working, or God-fearing. For the Lord it’s important that we first see His power. Fearing the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, Proverbs 1:7 says. Later on, do you remember the name God introduces Himself as? Jehovah or Yahweh, The Great I Am. But in Genesis chapter 1 He wants our first impression of Him to be the “I Can.” He is able to do above all that we ask or think. He’s the Creator of the heavens and earth.

Psalm 8:3-4. He’s the source of incomprehensible power - To create this universe by Himself? How is that possible? And each part with such care and artistry. And then, as infinite as it seems, it’s only a speck of what He’s created, counting the unseen world. Colossians chapter 1 speaks of a whole unseen world that He’s created. So before we go any further into the scriptures, Elohim needs to sink into our heads.

Stephen’s Quintet

Cliffs of the Carina Nebula

Most of the Bible’s earliest descriptions of our God are emphasizing His great strength:

Melchizedek said that He is the Highest in Genesis 14. Genesis 14:19.

Abraham said that He is the God of infinite power, theAll -mighty, the El Shaddai. Gen 17:1

Hagar calls Him the all-seeing God. Gen 16:13 How does He do that? How does He see what’s going on inside your body right now, while feeling a separate joy for each person who is being restored to the Lord today, and a separate sorrow for each death right now, and a unique love for each baby being born? It sounds so overwhelming and impossible, but not for the God who sees.

Abraham describes Him as the everlasting God, who has already lived an eternity before He thought to make us. Gen 21:33.

If we want our neighbors to know God, this is where it begins. The first thing God wants us to know about Himself is He is the Unknowable, the Inconceivable. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (Romans 11:33) What do you think it would be like to meet Elohim? Would you tremble? Would you fall to your face? Do you ever think about that moment when we get to stand before Him? It’s really gonna happen.

But of course there’s more to God than Elohim. And Genesis Chapter 2, God Introduces Himself To Us With Another Name. Gen 2:4 is really not one of those notable, memorable verses, but it’s important because it’s the first time God introduces Himself to us in the Bible as Jehovah, which means “I Am.” And when He changes what He calls Himself, He also portrays Himself in a different light. In chapter one God is creating an entire universe. But now in Genesis chapter two, He comes down to be with us and walk among us. He’s not portrayed as the All-powerful, unknowable, untouchable Creator, but the God who walks with us. So after all of the Majesty of chapter 1, Chapter 2 follows with a nurturing God.

The Sustainer and Caregiver, 2:6, 8, 9.

Not the inapproachable God but the personal Father, who is interested in His children

Who entrusts man with His creation, 2:15.

And solicits his input and involves him in His work, 2:19.

And makes man’s peace a priority, 2:20.

So when God calls Himself “Jehovah,” He is inviting us to know Him. And you can see that invitation right from His name. Sometimes God will just call Himself Jehovah, the Great I Am, But often He’ll finish the sentence and I want to show you that. Jehovah is a name that invites to be known.

For example, In Exodus 15:26 God Himself introduces Himself as Jehovah or Yahweh Rapha, I Am He who heals. Exodus 15:26.

Genesis 22 tells us that Abraham discovered something about the Lord when He provided the sacrifice of Isaac. He filled in the blank and called Him Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah means “I AM” and Jireh is the Provider

And then when the Lord spared Gideon in Judges 6, Gideon called Him Jehovah-shalom, I Am Peace in verse 24.

He’s also: Jehovah Nissi (Exodus 17:15) "The LORD our Banner" Jehovah Raah (Psalms 23:1) "The LORD our Shepherd" Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6) "The LORD our Righteousness" Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) "The LORD is Present“ So who is our God? Yes He’s powerful, that’s the first thing we need to understand, But He’s also knowable, not just the I Am, but an invitation to discovery. What about the 7 “IAms ” of Jesus? But that’s just 7. How many more are out there for us to discover? I believe that’s the point. God’s name is our invitation. Come find Me. Come learn about Me. I will let you find Me. Call upon the name of the Lord I think about what Paul said in Philippians 3 as he reflected on what He had learned about the Lord: Philippians 3:7-11. And I suspect the resurrection to Him is being with Christ forever, not just living forever. So why are you here this morning? Is it just because you have to, or because it’s the right thing to do, or have you come seeking the Lord? What are the “IAms ” that you’ve discovered concerning our God, that are most meaningful to you? If You need Him to be this morning, He is the God who saves, and He is the God who forgives. If He is the God you need this morning, then why do you delay?

In Jesus we learn He is . . .

And how many more of these “I am” statements have not been mentioned? I believe that God’s message to us is that I’m knowable, so come find Me.

I love the passage that says . . . 2 Chronicles 15:2. It’s so sad when Christians work so hard to be right,

And when we get a taste of who He is, we won’t want anything else. I think about what Paul said in Philippians 3 as he reflected on what He had learned about the Lord: Philippians 3:7-11. How well do you know the Lord this morning? Do you know Him well enough to keep His name alive? I like to do ancestry work, and I have a few mysteries in my family where I don’t know anything about certain people and the memory of some are already forgotten, and it’s amazing how few generations it takes to become forgotten. It won’t take long for you and me to fade away. But let’s not let the world forget our Father. He is the God who saves, and He is the God who forgives. If He is the God you need this morning, then why do you delay?

Good morning. We are continuing a study of the parables of Jesus today, looking at the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Read with me from Luke 16:19-31. Luke 16:19-31. What do you think it would take to change the hearts of the stubborn people in your life? Do you think we could get this country turned around if God brough some of those Old Testament miracles back? Like maybe the ten plagues again, or manna from heaven or something? What would help you to become more zealous for God? Do you think if maybe God gave us a vision of hell, or sent an angel to put fear into us, that we’d be more like we’re supposed to be? The message of the Rich man and Lazarus is that there is nothing more convicting than God’s Word.

So let’s take a closer look at this parable. And there is a question of whether or not it’s actually a parable or if Jesus is telling a true story from His experience. For two reasons, first because the scripture doesn’t specifically say it’s a parable. For example, in Luke 15:3 the scripture says . . . Luke 15:3 But here it begins, Luke 16:19. But there are many times when Jesus begins a parable without the scriptures announcing it’s a parable, for example, Luke 15:11 Luke 16:1 So that doesn’t rule out it being a parable. But another unusual aspect of this parable is that it’s the only one where Jesus uses a person’s name, Lazarus. Usually he’ll just say son or father or woman. Maybe this story is about someone that Jesus actually knew. If we believe Jesus is the Son of God, then we believe that He sees what happens after death and it would be nothing for Jesus to be familiar with such a story. I’m not sure we have enough information to know for sure whether or not this was a true story or not, but we don’t need to know to understand the message of it. It is the last of a set of several parables that Jesus tells in Luke 15-16, which began with the Lost sheep, then lost coin and prodigal son, and then the unjust manager at the beginning of chapter 16. And it’s told immediately after the scriptures criticize the Pharisees for their love of money and inability to keep all of the Law, Luke 16:14-18.

While the two of them were alive there’s no mention of anything good or bad that they did, only that the rich man had a luxurious lifestyle and Lazarus had a terrible life. When Abraham explains later on to the rich man why he’s in trouble, he just says that you had your turn in life to enjoy things, and now it’s Lazarus’ turn. Luke 16:25. It reminds me of what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount about people who give to others to be seen,

Matthew 6:2, 5

He’s in torment because his focus was on his life instead of his afterlife. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 6 which sounds so much like the message of this parable.

Luke 6:20-26. If you don’t really have much to look forward to in this life, then you truly are blessed.

And then the rich man and Lazarus died. And how do you imagine the rich man’s funeral being?

The queen’s funeral will be 9/19. Who’s gonna watch it? How lavish do you think it’s going to be? This man’s funeral probably was elaborate. Everybody’s mourning for him, and he’s placed in a beautiful tomb, And what do you think happened to Lazarus when he died? Probably thrown in a hole or something? “Only the very poorest of Romans were unable to afford tombs and thus were candidates for mass burials in pits ( puticuli). Burial methods ranged from simple interment in trenches in the ground or in large clay jars, to placing the remains in modestly built brick chests or in sumptuous, house-like mausolea.” I imagine it was quite a contrast to what was going on behind the scenes as angels came to carry away Lazarus to feast with Abraham.

Jesus doesn’t say that the angels treated Lazarus with care and honor while accompanying him to his rest, or that it was exciting and full of rejoicing from a host of beings upon his death while his body was added to the mass burial pit. And it doesn’t talk about the lack of honor that the rich man received. For him there are no angels mentioned, only that he was buried and somehow ended up in torment, while his beautiful funeral procession was happening on earth. Verse 22 says Lazarus ended up in Abraham’s bosom, which has always been weird for me, not really the afterlife I’m shooting for. But take a look at John 13:23. This is the apostle John eating a feast next to Jesus. He’s sitting on the ground next to the Lord so that when he turns his head there’s Jesus right there eating with him. In His bosom. In Luke 13, when Jesus describes heaven, He describes it as a feast where people from all over will be reclining at the table with Abraham while the evil watch.

Luke 13:28-29.

While Lazarus is being rewarded, this rich man doesn’t seem to be learning any lessons. I always wonder if people are going to change as a result of the consequences of hell. You would think so. I don’t get why this rich man thinks he can order Abraham to send Lazarus to bring him some water as though Lazarus is his servant. Luke 16:24. He hasn’t figured out his place yet in relation to Lazarus, who’s honored and who is not. And Abraham is so kind trying to explain it to him, even calling him son. Luke 16:25. But there’s no chance for the rich man to be comforted. And then he asks for a special favor for his family, that Lazarus might go back and warn them. Again, Lazarus is not your servant. And it’s pretty selfish to want to go back and war just your family. Abraham says that won’t work.

What does it take for people to believe? How are we going to get through to people before it’s too late? You would think that somebody coming back from the dead would do it. You might remember that there is another person in the Bible named Lazarus who actually does raise from the dead and John 12:11 says on account of him many were believing. What I didn’t realize is that the raising of Lazarus happens very soon after Jesus tells this parable. Almost as if He wanted them to remember this parable when Lazarus was raised, so that He can prove to the pharisees they still wouldn’t believe even if someone was raised from the dead.

John 12:9-10 says . . . John 12:9-10.

So why doesn’t God provide miracles like He did in the past to help us believe? Because that wouldn’t work. Why can’t we at least live in a miraculous age so that people know there is something beyond the physical realm? Because that wouldn’t work. So what does work then? Luke 16:27-31. We don’t need to show people more than God’s Word. That’s enough. When it finds the right hearts they will believe. But what if we’re having a hard time changing? What if we’re like the rich man, stuck focusing on the cares of this world and not doing enough to prepare for death? Take comfort in knowing that everything you need to make those changes has already been given to you. And that miracles and seeing God wouldn’t work anyway. At least not in increasing our faith, probably just our fear. We have Moses and the prophets already, let’s listen to them before it’s too late.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 53:4-5

Isaiah 55:3

61:1-2. Can you name which book of the Bible these verses come from? If you knew it was Isaiah, you are right, nice job. These are some of the best known verses from the Bible, and some of the most beautiful and comforting words,

And they are all from an Old Testament Book. Isaiah is the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament. It has 66 chapters. Do you remember how many books of the Bible there are? 66. Isaiah has 66 chapters. Do you know how many Old Testament books there are? 39. The first 39 book of Isaiah focus on God’s judgment and righteousness, the last 27 on the Messiah, starting in chapter 40. It’s almost like Isaiah is a microcosm of the Bible.

But as beautiful and beloved as Isaiah is considered by Christians, I want you to notice that Isaiah’s job was to proclaim judgement. Isaiah is called by God in Isaiah 6:8, and then in verse 9 God gives him his commission. Isaiah 6:8-13. Isaiah, burn it down to the ground until there is nothing left but a stump! So how can a book of wrath be so beautiful and hopeful and exciting? Well, that’s what I want to talk about this morning. We need to understand this point, because it is the beauty God offers to us and will accomplish in our lives and countries and throughout the world. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1215 that he spent himself for the Corinthians. At the end, in 2 Timothy 4, he describes himself as being poured out. Life is spending us. Life is wearing on us. It’s breaking us down. Do you feel that way? I do. And not just us, but everything is being torn down so that it can all be renewed. The message of Isaiah is that God is going to tear it all down to a stump in order to accomplish its glory.

In Isaiah’s message, the wrath is coming against God’s own people Israel. Isaiah 1:4-6, 21-25. Verse 7 describes the destruction of their city, 1:7-9. Assyria was during this time invading Judah and besieging its cities, burning them, devouring them. Soon after Babylon will finish the job and lead them into captivity. Oxley has been teaching us on Wednesdays about the establishment of Israel in Canaan’s land. 1000 years later they’re in captivity. And while Isaiah’s writing, a brand new village is being founded hundreds of miles away that’s being called Rome. They’re being raised up to finish Israel off for good in a few hundred years. So how can the story of Israel being burned and torn apart down to a stump be a hopeful story? Well it’s going to be a glorious stump.

Because we need to be torn down and broken down and poured out in order to become what we want to become. There’s a lot about me that I don’t like and I want to get rid of. I know there’s some good in here and I think my heart is salvageable, but a bunch needs to go. God’s people welcome this kind of pruning that’s described in Isaiah because we want to be remade. Don’t you? This is the sentiment of Isaiah 8. God brings Assyria against Israel, 8:7-10. This is kind of funny to me. See, God’s on our side, so He’s going to prevent us from winning. And thank God no matter how hard we try to escape our calamity we will fail. When my brother was young, about ten, he was riding his bike and fell into some glass and cut his hand really bad. So we took him to the doctor, and he would not let the doctor capture him him, but since my mom and dad loved him they held him down so the doctor could get him. God is on our side, and so He won’t allow us to escape difficulties. In verse 11 Isaiah warns against dreading the fire. 8:11-12 Don’t fight the suffering. Peter quotes this in 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3:13-14. The ungodly should be afraid of God’s pruning, not us. Because when He’s done with them they’ll be nothing left! When He’s done with us we are going to be worn out and tired and spent and healthy. Verse 13 explains, Isaiah 8:13-14 So here’s the order of things. First it’s fear and dread. Then He becomes our sanctuary. Do you fear God cleaning house? Breaking down the nations, constantly interrupting their progress. Do you fear being broken down into a stump?

What if it lead to your being remade? The hope of the message of Isaiah is that God can fix this. Us individually and our world. Its people will be restored, 1:25-26. And the city will be transformed, 2:2-3. Even the nature is redeemed, 11:6. When Laura and I moved back to Alabama in 2012, we moved into a home that had been neglected for years inside and out. It was basically unlivable. And the church members worked before we got there to get rid of all the rat nests and fix the plumbing and replace the rotting floors. And then we worked after that to pull up so many bushes and create an actual yard, and prune the trees. And it became livable again. Let God work. You are not yet who you can be.

And the catalyst for all of this renewal after the tearing down, says Isaiah chapter 9, is a child born to us, a Son, strong enough to bear the weight of government on His shoulders, a hero. He ushers in the light. He stops the bloodshed. And becomes for us our Wonderful Counselor after all others have proven worthless; our Mighty God when all of our idols have failed; our Eternal Father when the others have abandoned us; and the Prince of Peace after so much devastation. No more tearing down, v.7 (emphasis on increase). So are you going to let God remake you or not? We need to get broken, because the zeal of the Lord will not relent until He’s finished, 7:7b.

Good morning. We are continuing a study of the parables of Jesus today, looking at the parable of the Good Samaritan. Read with me from Luke 10:25-37.

Now before we get into the parable, look with me at the overall context of it in Luke. First of all, Luke is the only gospel that records this parable from Jesus. It’s located here in Luke 10, After Jesus had finished sending out His disciples out to preach the gospel. 72 of them were sent out 2x2, and they had great success Jesus actually warns them while sending them out to be careful while traveling in versus 3-4. Don’t take anything that can be stolen. Don’t talk to anyone while you’re traveling. I think it’s hard for Christians to understand the wisdom of both being careful and kind. The Jews, for example, knew they had to be careful of the Canaanites and their influence, but that didn’t mean some of them weren’t godly people, like Rahab turned out to be for example, or that they couldn’t be kind or loving at the same time. In verses 17 the 72 return to Jesus after great success teaching and they’re overjoyed. Luke 10:17 And then Jesus is excited. Luke 10:21-22. And then after this great success comes the buzzkill of the lawyer who questions Jesus in verse 25. Luke 10:25.

So who is this guy. When you see “lawyer” in the Bible, think “A Jew who went to Bible college and got their doctorate in Bible.” Like a professor. He knows his Bible inside and out.

And the Bible tells us that he came to test Jesus. Which sounds like something a professor would do. But I think this is more nefarious than seeing what Jesus knows. He wants to beat Him. That word test is the same word in Matthew 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 10:9. This is not the good kind of test. The Bible doesn’t explain what his test was exactly, but He was trying to make Jesus look bad in some kind of way.

So Jesus of course knew this was a trap question, and just put the question back on him and he gave a great answer, the same answer Jesus gave to the greatest commandment question in another place. And this embarrassed the professor. I don’t know exactly why. Because He felt like a child being told “Good job” by an inferior? Because the answer ended up being so easy? “Have you seen my glasses?” They’re on your head.

So he asks a follow-up question that is maybe a little harder. Who is my neighbor? Who is it that I should love deeply? And so Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan.

Saying, Luke 10:30. Here’s an idea of the terrain that lies between Jerusalem and Jericho. And it was known to have bandits hiding along the way. If you knew that it was a place where thieves and robbers hang out, would you send your kids down that road alone? Your wife? What if you heard about some guy that decided he was gonna take the road himself? Do you know of any places like that, where you’ve said to somebody, “You’d be an idiot to go in there?”

So that might be one thought that you’d have coming across a guy laying on the side of the road. This Jewish man described in verse 30 isn’t the smartest making this trip by himself. Did he even deserve anybody’s help being so foolish? Didn’t he bring this on himself? Would you have been a neighbor to him? (Guy that fell on his face riding his bike, Laura made me stop)

Each of the men who passed him by had some great reasons for avoiding helping him. First, the bad guys on these roads were smart and they would use bait, like injured people, to lure in suckers and increase their profits. So if you’re smart you’re not going to fall into their trap. You’re going to see this guy and know some bad guys are around and avoid the situation, not go help a guy who ought to have known better. Second, the Priest and the Levite both understood what the Law had to say about touching dead bodies, and knew they needed to be careful. Numbers 19:11. It was just practical. And plus they were supposed to be helping other people who were coming to worship and couldn’t afford to touch a dead body and become unclean and then not be able to do their jobs. So what would you have done if you were them? Maybe they weren’t a neighbor to the guy but their actions make a lot of sense. What would you risk to be a neighbor to somebody? I hope you would risk whatever it takes because it’s the right thing to do.

If you wouldn’t then you risk this Samaritan making you look bad. Are you willing to risk being less kind than your enemy? Gary and I were talking Wednesday about our past dealings with difficult brethren. Oxley mentioned the same thing to me the other day. Brethren can be hard to get along with. Are you willing to be impatient and unkind to them when Samaritans are out being merciful to God’s people? There’s a reason Jesus make they good guy in this parable a Samaritan. It’s because everyone despised Samaritans. It’s what you called people when you wanted to insult them, like the Jews did to Jesus in John 8. John 8:48. They were a race of people created with God’s people disobeyed and intermarried with the Canaanites. It’s interesting to me that Jesus just had a bad encounter with Samaritans a chapter earlier in Luke 9:51-55. Notice Jesus was heading towards Jerusalem so the Samaritans wouldn’t help him. Luke 9:51-55. Still Jesus made a Samaritan the hero of His parable. I wonder if there’s a Samaritan in your life than you can somehow make a hero out of in your stories? In Jesus’ parable, this man didn’t allow the risk to stop him, and didn’t make the cost a barrier. Luke 10:35.

I’ve always found it interesting that at the end of the parable, Jesus does not really answer the man’s question. He asked, “Who is my neighbor?” In other words, who must I love? And Jesus answered in verse 36, Luke 10:36. In other words, who was the one who loved? I suspect the Jews listening to Jesus’ parable related more to the fallen Jew who was helped than the Samaritan who helped him. And anyone of them would have been thankful for the man who saved their lives, even if he was a Samaritan. It shouldn’t matter how problematic somebody is when we’re deciding about mercy. What matters is opportunity.

Jesus in this parable models how to be a good Samaritan to the Lawyer who came to trap Him. He wasn’t ugly. He wasn’t angry. He didn’t make Him look stupid. He answered His question with love and patience. Let’s do a better job asking not who is our neighbor but who can we be a neighbor to.

Good morning.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 says concerning the city of Sodom, Ezekiel 16:49-50. I think most people know about the sin of homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah. That isn’t all they’re known for. There are many reasons why these cities became God’s warning for every generation about the dangers of turning against God.

Sodom and Gomorrah are kind of like the story of Cain part two in the Bible. Do you remember that Cain’s story didn’t end when he killed Abel? He then moved away from Adam and Eve to establish his own family. And it wasn’t a good lineage that he started. Just as Cain was evil, so were his descendants. As a matter of fact there’s no record of godliness anywhere in them. Only worldliness. And pretty soon thanks in large part to Cain’s lineage the whole world turned away from God, which led to the flood. The destruction of the whole world because of his seed of wickedness introduced into it. But God promised he would never do that again. So after the flood God nips evil in the bud.

Canaan is a great example of God not allowing any more Cains to infect the world. It’s ironic that Cain and Canaan sound so similar, because they are so similar. Canaan was the grandson of Noah, the son of Ham. And like Cain, none in Canaan’s family are praised by God for their righteousness. His story actually begins with a sin by his father, whose name was Ham. Please turn to Genesis chapter 9. Genesis 9:20-27 It’s hard to tell exactly what Ham did that was so bad, or what Canaan had to do with it, but it must have been pretty bad for Noah to respond in this way. And time proved Noah right.

Nimrod descended from Canaan. Genesis 10:8-11. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. He was also a great city builder. He was the one who founded the city of Babel. It was thanks to Nimrod that Babel existed and then mankind attempted its next great wickedness. Nimrod also founded the city of Nineveh. Which was the capital of Assyria. In the Old Testament the nation of Israel came to an end when Assyria destroyed Israel and Babylon took Judah into captivity. Think of it like Cain killing Abel all over again. Only this time Abel will raise again.

Both Babylon and Nineveh are also used throughout scriptures to represent wickedness, as you might recall in the book of Revelation (the great wicked city),

And in Jesus’ woes, Matthew 12:41.

And then how about this list of descendants from Genesis 10:15-19. All of those nations stood opposed to God. All of them descended from Canaan. When we sing “To Canaan’s land I’m on my way,” remember that God is taking the inheritance of the wicked and hands it over to those he loves.

Which is just as Noah had earlier prophesied. The people of Canaan would serve their brothers, the descendants of Shem and Japheth.

Looking big picture then, God saved the world through Noah. Canaan came into the world after the flood. And then two years after Noah died, the Lord chose another man on the earth to continue his covenant, through whom the world would again be rescued, a descendant of Shem named Abram. I think it’s so interesting that Noah died only a short time before Abraham was born.

And Shem was alive until Abraham was 150 years old. And through Abraham God begins the process of destroying the wicked line of Canaan and giving his inheritance to Shem. Which I believe is a spiritual lesson God is teaching to us - that He intends on ending the reign of the wicked and giving their inheritance to His people. It’s not going to happen again like it did in the days of Cain.

In Abraham’s time God revealed his plan to destroy Canaan. And if it weren’t for the Amorites, the conquering of Canaan would have happened sooner. Genesis 15:12-16. When Canaan’s wickedness was finally completed, God gave Israel that land. Remember that he didn’t give Israel the land because of Israel’s righteousness but because of Canaan’s wickedness, Deuteronomy 9:4. This was God destroying the line of Canaan before it does what Cain’s line did to the world. So now back to Sodom and Gomorrah. Even though God wasn’t quite ready to destroy Canaan in Abraham’s lifetime, Sodom and Gomorrah proved themselves too wicked to wait.

Here’s some important things to understand about Sodom and Gomorrah and why God destroyed them. First, they were the people of Canaan son of Ham. Second, looking at them and their land reminded people of the garden of Eden, Genesis 13:10. And they were exceedingly wicked, Genesis 13:13 says. Maybe that’s why in Abraham’s day they had already been given over to the nation of Elam, Gen. 14:4, who were descendants of Shem. Also there were actually five cities that were all terribly wicked despite most credit going to Sodom and Gomorrah.

The point of all this is that we must understand God will not allow the wickedness of man to rise again to the level of the flood. And Sodom and Gomorrah is the sign of that, and those cities’ names have been used to teach about the wrath of God for thousands of years. God’s not going to put up with it. If we take the same path they did, we’ll face the same consequences: Surrounding ourselves with wickedness. Arrogance, apathy. They had no ambition for holiness. And growth. Detestable deeds. Sometimes God refuses to wait to bring judgement against us and He will step in if necessary.

I think what surprises me most about Sodom is that they should have known better. They knew about the flood, because Noah lived right over there! Shem lived long enough to see them destroyed. He was over 900 years old and still alive in their time, he must have been an icon of the day. The boat’s still over there on the mountain. How do you get so hardened? They were so hardened that, when they finally descended into their darkness, when the men of the city demanded that Lot give them the men in his house for sexual pleasure, And then the angels struck them all blind, that the scripture says they still wearied themselves looking for the door in order to lay with those men. Sodom and Gomorrah are so important to us today because they are God’s message that He will do what is necessary to defeat Canaan before they become too destructive. He stepped in then and He will continue to do so today, and if we are caught up in it we will be destroyed as well. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, escaped Sodom. And then he bore two children. Moab, father of the Moabites, and Ben-ammi, father of the sons of Ammon.

And then God gave a warning to them who had initially escaped His judgement: God had a message to those people who escaped through Lot, Zephaniah 2:9-10. Let’s make sure we are on the right side when this is all over.

This morning we are finishing a study on the Sermon on the Mount. The first three lessons are on our Facebook page in case you would like to go back and listen to them.

And we have been working towards a big-picture view of Jesus’ sermon. Noticing that overall it’s a sermon about the Kingdom of Heaven, Describing the character of the citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom, The righteousness expected in His Kingdom, greater than anyone had ever seen, And how to get into His Kingdom. Today we’ll be studying chapter 7, Which means we finish up His section about Kingdom Righteousness, verses 1-12, And then conclude by talking about entering into the Kingdom. When Jesus taught what righteousness would look like in His Kingdom, he contrasted it with the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees.

Matthew 5:20.

Their righteousness was external, While Kingdom rightesouness needs to be deeper, into our heart and emotions and thoughts. And then after He tells us to be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees,

He reminds us to be humble about it, not prideful as though everyone else needs to know how righteous we are.

And then Jesus teaches us not to lose sight of the Kingdom and its righteousness, Teaching us to store up treasures in heaven not earth, serve God not riches, seek first the Kingdom of God, and trust God to care for us rather than worry.

So let’s conclude by looking at Matthew 7, the last part of His message about righteousness. One of the biggest challenges for people studying this sermon is to understand how it flows from one section to the next. Jesus was the greatest orator of all time, and was very purposeful in everything He said. So when we come into chapter seven, we have to build it off of what He had discussed in chapter 6, so I’d like you to think about that with me for a moment. After laying down the greatest standard of righteousness in history, Jesus says this: Matthew 7:1-6.

So what’s the message? Stay down to earth. Don’t get a big head. It’s true that we have high standards for ourselves as children of God, but let’s not get carried away. The Bible says there is none righteous, not even one. We are still vulnerable to the same sins as everyone else, so let’s not be too harsh. Now I talked about this last week, but it’s important enough to say it again, Jesus uses language the same way all of us do. He sometimes speaks in hyperbole. When Jesus said we must hate our families to be His disciple, we understand that’s not literally true. Or gouging out our eyes or cutting off our hands. And when He says, “Do not judge,” we need to be careful not to take that more literally than He meant it.

Other scriptures tell us to judge.

Romans 16 commands us to judge and turn away from some people.

So what is Jesus really telling us here? Be humble and recognize that we have a lot of problems to work on personally. Help others humbly. And recognize that God will judge the arrogant in His Kingdom.

And what about this next verse, 7:6. Well, it requires us to judge, first of all. But it’s also our second message about overzealousness, about being overconfident and pushy. Don’t force the gospel onto people. Why did the gospel work on us, on you and me? Because we knew we needed it. Not because we lost an argument. Jesus taught the 70 to wipe the dust off their feet and leave a city that rejects the message of the Kingdom. We must be content when a person we are teaching refuses to hear.

And then finally let’s not try to depend on ourselves to accomplish all of this. 7:7-12. Jesus is talking to us right now. Those of us who are trying our best to live up to this standard.

We work not to . . . Hate, lust, divorce, we always keep our word, turn the other cheek, love our enemy. But we can never fully live up to the standard of the Kingdom. And so we get discouraged. So right at the end of His message about the standard of righteousness, Jesus reminds us that help is always available. And I’m so thankful for this lesson, because I realized a long time ago the jobs that God has assigned to me are too big for me. One dumb mistake on my part and I can do a lot of damage. Don’t depend on yourself. Don’t attempt to be the sermon on the mount kind of person without leaning on God’s help the whole way to do it.

Finally, we have gotten to the last part of His sermon, where He calls His listeners to make a decision. Will they choose His Kingdom or reject it? Every sermon has an invitation, and this is the Lord’s version of it. He offers a choice.

The choice is between two gates, two fruits and two foundations. 7:13-14. The choice Jesus encourages is for us to take the hard way.

That word narrow is usually translated afflicted or trouble in other places in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 4:8 (troubled on every side

Thess 3:4 (tribulation). The road’s going to be narrow, and lonely, and when we get on it it’s going to be rough and rocky and it’s going to take a great amount of determination and commitment. So are we doing to take the easy road or the hard one?

Will we choose the good fruit or the bad fruit? 7:15-20. The bad fruit’s going to be disguised. I’ve heard that fruit looks different today that it used to. Tomatoes. Apples. You go to the grocery store and they look perfect. They’re big and shiny and red. But they don’t have the same richness of taste that they used to. They just look good. Have you found that to be true? We need to be careful about messages coming from bigger and better and more exciting. Choose the good fruit.

And then choose the right foundation. 7:24-27. Will we choose the rock or the sand?

This is home for me. Spring Valley, California. Dictionary Hill. Most of the houses are sitting on the side of the mountain.

You can almost see my house up there, past that driveway.

Here’s a view from the top. We got lots of earthquakes out there. But one nice thing about living up on this hill is it’s solid rock. This isn’t the Bookcliffs. It’s a lot harder to build up here, I would imagine. Putting houses on the sides of hills, getting equipment up here.

So we could pursue the easy way through life, Not embarrassing ourselves with meekness and humility and an almost naïve standard of righteousness. And go after things we can see instead. Eventually we’ll find out like the rest of the world though that there’s coming a great fall.

The sermon on the mount is a picture of the kingdom of God and its people. They pursue the character of God, The righteousness of God, And will do anything to be a part of His Kingdom. Are you pursuing the righteousness of the Kingdom? Jesus says

Matthew 7:21-23

Two weeks ago we started a study of the Sermon on the Mount, Trying to take a step back from the message that is so familiar to us all and understand its greater significance,

Like the fact that Jesus like Moses went up on a mountain to give the Law. The Sermon on the Mount was one of the ways the Lord is declared successor to Moses. And it’s one of the pictures God uses to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel, that all of those stories in the Old Testament about Israel were leading to Christ, and that Israel was a type of Jesus.

And we’ve also been trying to take a step back and see the overall outline of the sermon. We noted that it’s a Kingdom message. Jesus preached everywhere, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” And this Sermon is His description of that Kingdom, The first part is the character of its citizens, the second its high standards of righteousness, and the third about entering into the Kingdom, And tonight we’re continuing to look at Kingdom righteousness in Matthew 6. This part of the sermon began in Matthew 5:16, where Jesus explained that He is comparing His teachings to the teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees,

Which looks something like this. They taught . . . But Jesus went further . . .

So now let’s continue looking at the second main message of the Sermon on the Mount, the righteousness required by its citizens, which I’m going to divide up in this way: The first section deals with pride, the second about loving two masters, and the third about being overzealous.

Notice in chapter six the three subjects that Jesus discusses in verses 1-18. Giving to the poor, praying, and fasting. Each time His message is that we shouldn’t do those things to bring ourselves glory. Beware of being prideful in our righteousness. Chapter five described the lofty standard of righteousness that He brings to His kingdom, and now chapter six warns about practicing that righteousness to perform before men. Matthew 6:1. So do you see the flow from 5 to 6? Yes, my people have a high standard of righteousness, but they are not to become prideful about it. Let’s take a look at them one at a time. Verse 2. Matthew 6:2-4. Notice Jesus says each time, “When you” to these things. So what does that imply? It’s not an if but when we give to the poor. We need to be finding opportunities to give to other people. But when we do, there should be no sounding of trumpets and we need to be giving in secret. And I think we get a little confused about this. Let’s say that someone sees us giving a sandwich to a person in need. Have we sinned? Someone sees us writing a check to a needy brother or sister. I believe that we can sometimes take Jesus too literally, to the point where we miss His message. Rather than understanding He communicates like we do. We sometimes overstate things to make points. We use examples and figures and exaggerated language to get our points across, and He does as well. It’s like a kid whose parent said, “You need to clean your room after dinner,” but when he doesn’t do it later on he says, “Well you didn’t say how long after dinner. I was planning on next week.” What’s Jesus message here? It’s not about doing everything to remain secret, but not seeking personal glory. Keep things as low-key as possible. Don’t talk about it after we’ve done it. Give simply for glory from the Father and the rest will take care of itself.

Second, when you pray. We ought to be praying all the time. Matthew 6:5-6. I know some brethren who won’t pray in a restaurant because somebody might see them. I don’t believe that’s Jesus’ point. I don’t think He cared if people ever saw Him pray. Sometimes they did. The point isn’t to make sure nobody sees us but that we don’t do it for glory from men.

And there’s so much we can talk about concerning the Lord’s prayer, but for now I just want to emphasize how humble a prayer this is. It’s a 25 second prayer, that’s it. And it’s become the most famous prayer ever. It’s three exaltations of God and three appeals to Him.

Prayer is humble. Finally, verse 16 begins when you fast. So does this not imply that we ought to fast? It’s been a part of the Lord’s religion since as early as we can see. These standards for righteousness don’t seem any easier than chapter five. But nobody needs to know that we’re fasting, so maybe that’s why we don’t hear about more Christians doing it, right? Like the others, sometimes other people did know. Christians have been known to fast as a group, as we see in Acts 13. But the point is that we’re doing it for God and not glory from men. So, yes, the standards of righteousness in the kingdom of God are high, but don’t let that get to your head. Do all things for God’s glory.

Next, a new section begins in verse 19. And in that passage are four messages about the pressures the world puts on us to turn from the Kingdom’s righteousness. It’s a section about staying loyal to God. This is where you find the sayings about storing up treasures in heaven not earth, the eye being the lamp of the body, no one can serve two Masters, and do not worry. So let’s read beginning in verse 19. 6:19-21. How invested are we in this world? Is there anything we could lose from which our faith could not recover? Let’s say God lets you lose your job. Your family. Your house, your health. Will you still be His? Let’s be prepared to lose everything and still follow Him. And then I’ve always loved verses 22-23. Matthew 6:22-23. Where are we looking? What are we seeing? What are we filling ourselves with? Sin, negativity, evil, darkness. What we focus on is more a reflection on us than on the things we see, Jesus says.

Verse 24 says . . . Matthew 6:24. Serving wealth is putting in the time and sacrifices to achieve it rather than a godly end. Our focus needs to be entirely on serving God. Whatever job we get or money we achieve needs to be in pursuit of the glory of God.

And then let’s end with the last section in chapter 6 tonight, the message about worry. Jesus isn’t changing the subject here, we’re still talking about divided loyalties. Notice down in verse 32 and 33 that the focus remains on what’s most important to us. Matthew 6:32-33. So if we have four sections about divided loyalties, and one section is a lot longer than the others, what does that mean? Why does Jesus spend 10 verses on the subject of worry? I guess He thought we have a serious problem with it. So what does your worry say about your trust in and dependence on God? Matthew 6:25-32. Alright, so what’s the solution to worry? These are the verses that I go back to over and over when I start getting stressed. Here and in Philippians 4:6. First, just follow God, and trust that He’ll take care of us. That’s all we need to focus on. We do that part, He’ll do the other part. And then second, stay in the moment. Matthew 6:34. When we start worrying, we’re probably thinking about tomorrow, rather than right now. But God gives us permission to just think about right now. We need to practice that, and every time our mind starts getting way ahead of us, we need to talk ourselves into coming back to today. Right now I’m fine. I’m well-fed. I have clothes, I have everything I need. That’s all that matters. When tomorrow gets here I’ll start thinking about how to get through that day, but we need to do better at taking it one day at a time.

So far we’ve studied about the kind of people that belong in Jesus’ Kingdom, in chapter 5:1-16, And the high standard of righteousness in it.

How it’s greater than the standard of the Jewish leaders,

And how we need to avoid becoming prideful in the high standard, And fight back against the world trying to push us away from it. So we’ll conclude the study next week, looking at Jesus’ warning about becoming overzealous,

And finish by talking about how to get into the Kingdom. I hope the lesson has provided a broader view of Jesus’ most famous sermon. It would be so wonderful to share in your moment of turning towards God in baptism or in repentance. It would feel so good to be a help to you in any way. Acts 22:16.

Good morning. We are studying the Sermon on the Mount again today, After we did an overview of it last week, Seeing that it was Jesus’ message about His Kingdom, That it paralleled Moses receiving the law on the mountain, And then we looked at its outline and saw there are three distinct sections in it.

First, the type of people who comprise the kingdom (They’re poor in spirit, meet, hunger and thirst for righteousness),

Second, the kingdom has a high standard of righteousness, And the third section describes entrance into the kingdom.

Before we start looking at the next section, I want to show you a parallel sermon by Jesus in Luke’s gospel. Please turn to Luke 6. Notice the similarities of this sermon. Staring in verse 20. Luke 6:20-22, 31. So you can see it’s almost the same. Some people wonder if Luke is just recording the same sermon as in Matthew 5-7. But I don’t think so, for a couple of reasons. First, verse 17 says that Jesus was down on the ground when He preached the one in Luke 6. Luke 6:17. And second, it’s different. “Being poor” is different than being “poor in spirit.” Being “hungry” is different than “hungering and thirsting for righteousness.” So Jesus had slightly different versions of this sermon that He would preach, depending on the need of the moment. One teaches that our character needs to be different from the world. Another taught that if you suffer in this life, be comforted that you have a God who blessed you. If you’re hungry now or poor now, leap for joy because your reward in heaven is great, and the rich and powerful in this life will miss out.

So now let’s look at the second main section of the Sermon on the Mount,

The righteousness required by its citizens.

Do you have that mode that you get into when listening to a preacher for the first time, that is evaluating what kind of person he’s going to be? Like are they a stickler for rules and tradition, or are they more worried about the world perceiving us as legalistic or cultish? Are they going to be demanding, and everyone better get lined up and ready to work, and you’d best not fall asleep during his sermons, Are will they be more understanding and maybe passive towards Christians who are weak and struggling and attend to their needs. People are listening to Jesus in that mode in Matthew chapter 5, wondering what kind of preacher this is, And they were astonished. They viewed Him, according to Matthew 5:29, as one having authority, meaning He seemed forceful, masterful, powerful. And this is His first message about sin and obedience. Matthew 5:17-20. We are not going to lower the standard in My Kingdom. I’m not looking for people who are OK with sin. We’re going to respect the commands of God more than what you’ve heard before, not be more dismissive.

And I believe the next part of the sermon confuses people, when Jesus says, “You have heard it was said, but I say unto you . . .” Because it seems like the Lord’s saying, “My standard of righteousness is going to be even greater than the old testament.” You know how the Old Testament says this? Well I say this. That’s not what Jesus is teaching in this passage, even though there might be some truth to that. What He’s saying is summarized in verse 20 as He begins this section. Matthew 5:20. So just based on this verse, what might the next part of the sermon be about? Well, it’s about what the scribes and pharisees are doing and teaching versus what Jesus is doing and teaching. He’s saying quit listening to them, because they’re going to get you lost. You’re gong to exceed their righteousness or be left out of the Kingdom.

The scribes and Pharisees acted like courts today who looked at laws from a technical standpoint. They would interpret the law like this: As long as you don’t murder, you can do anything you want to a person up to that point. Here’s how far you can go before you’re technically committing adultery. This does and doesn’t constitute adultery. Here’s all the reasons you can divorce your wives. If you don’t keep your word, it’s no big deal. Everyone does that sometimes. But if you swear that you’ll do something, then you really have to do it. That’s a legally binding contract. You can do back to other people what they do to you, as long as they do it first. And as long as you love your neighbor, you’re free to hate other people.

So Jesus is first showing the limits of what the scribes and pharisees taught about the Law, And then He’s taking things a step further in His Law. Beginning in verse 21. Matthew 5:21-24. Apparently the people were hearing from the scribes and pharisees that they shouldn’t murder, but that’s it. So Jesus says you need to do better than not murder somebody, you also must: Not be angry with your brother Not call him a fool, and be at peace with him. Or you might as well murder him, it’s just as bad. So why weren’t the scribes and Pharisees taking things as far as Jesus was? I don’t really know, because they knew the Law already said those things,

Leviticus 19:17. So the Old Law was not OK with anger and hatred and venom towards a brother.

And we’d better not be either.

Next, Jesus says: Matthew 5:27-30. Again, his listeners were not being taught by the scribes and pharisees that lust is wrong for some reason.

Even though the Old Testament taught them not to lust. Job said, Job 31:1. Maybe the scribes and pharisees thought, “Well that’s not a Law though!” We’d better not be that way. Job’s example should be enough for us to know to guard our eyes.

And then Jesus says Matthew 5:31-32. Now Moses did discuss giving wives a certificate of divorce in Deuteronomy 24, And Jesus would later say in Matthew 19:9 that Moses permitted the Jews to divorce. But He adds that Moses only allowed it because of their hardened hearts. In other words, Moses was allowing the sinful wicked Jews to divorce their wives, but that never meant it was OK to do. And you would think it’s obvious that it’s bad to kick a woman out onto the street because you don’t like something about her, wouldn’t you? But to the Jews, that was technically OK. In Jesus’ kingdom, that’s not how things will be. Jesus says that if you divorce your wife, you’re basically making her sin because she’ll go out and find another guy she ought not to be with. What do you think about that? This innocent woman who didn’t do anything wrong is sinning if she finds another man after her husband kicks her out. I believe the message is that Jesus takes divorce very seriously, and remarriage is a very serious and touchy matter to Him.

And then Jesus says: Matthew 5:33-37. Again, the scribes and pharisees thought it was fine not to keep your word, Unless you made an oath. Jesus teaches that we need to always do what we say, down to the smallest things. Let’s not ever say we’ll do something and then not do it. “I’ll be there” means I’ll be there. I’ll help out means I’ll help out.

And then Jesus said in 5:38-42. The scribes and Pharisees took the Old Testament to mean that if someone hurt you, you can hurt them back. That’s actually not what the Old Testament taught at all. If someone wronged youyou could take them to court and the judges would give you justice, yes, They were to decide what was eye for eye, what was a fair punishment. Ex 21:22, Deut 19:18-19. But you couldn’t just go burn someone’s house down if they burned your house down. Jesus teaches us not to think like this at all. Let God take care of justice while we focus on being the opposite of veangeful because we’re trying to be a light to the world, we’re trying to save souls through kindness.

Finally, Jesus says 5:43-48. And again, I don’t know why the scribes and pharisees were teaching this because the Old Testament says,

Proverbs 25:21

Job 31:29-30.

I heard a story a long time ago about King Arthur. When he knighted his men, he would make them take an oath so severe that it took their breath away. Jesus’ standard of righteousness is no joke. If we want to be a part of His kingdom, we are vowing to live at this extremely high standard. As Jesus says at the end of the passage, Matthew 5:48. Next week we’ll continue looking at the Lord’s standard of righteousness. Will you accept the Lord’s standard for you life? If not, we will not enter into the Kingdom, Jesus says. The only way we can do it is with the Lord’s help. Lean on Him this week as you seek to live a sanctified and holy life. If you need help this morning, please let us know how.

Galatians 6:10

James 1:27

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Romans 12:15

Being part of God’s family comes with both blessings and responsibilities. A lot of the blessings actually won’t happen unless we’re doing our responsibilities. These verses are all indicating that we are responsible for reaching out to our brothers and sisters in Christ during their times of need. Some of us are better at this than others - When someone needs a card, you write it. When someone needs encouragement, you call. You visit your brethren on a regular basis, and somebody’s always in your home. And you don’t have to tell me that I need to do more of this. So tonight we will be thinking about our responsibility toward our brothers and sisters, keying in on three passages from scripture – 2 Corinthians 1, Romans 12 and then Matthew 25.

The words in 2 Corinthians explain our primary motivation for helping the brethren. Verse 4 uses the phrase “so that” – God comforts us so that we can comfort them. 2 Corinthians 1:1-11. So that we may be able to comfort. “So that’s” teach us the reaction God wants to see from us by His actions, Romans 15:4-6, 15:13, Ephesians 6:11. He comforts us so that we may be able to comfort. And have we been comforted? I know I have and continue to be by Him. I am painfully aware of my shortcomings and needs, and God has always blessed me each step of the way. Foolish Marriage Children Financial breaks College Music teacher/Teach people the gospel Springville Colorado everything came together So if you can relate, God wants all of us to provide that same comfort to our brethren. He wants us to comfort sick people. He wants to encourage young families. He wants to give strength to the weak. He filled us up with comfort and now expects us to give it to others.

Now turn to James 1:27. James 1:27. This is God’s definition of religion. And the implication of this verse is that God operates through us to help people in distress. And those people aren’t going to be comforted as God desires unless we act. And the scary thing is when you read how important the vulnerable are to God and then think about the fact that God expects us to be their advocates. Have you ever thought about how zealous and protective God is for needy people? Psalm 68: 5 calls Him . . . Let’s not take this responsibility lightly then and upset the Lord. We studied about the Gibeonites on Wednesday, who were Canaanites enslaved to Israel. When anyone tried to hurt these slaves, God took them down. Israel paid a hefty price when they hurt the Gibeonites – 3 years famine. King Saul, the leader of their persecution, suffered a terrible fate. We used to have more time for helping others. Laura and I always used to be over at the houses of our brothers and sisters in Ohio. We were young, had no kids, no lives. We played a lot of rook. Did stuff. But we’re at a different point in our lives now. Four kids, foster care, working to pay the bills, house to take care of. Where’s the time? Do you have a lot of extra time? But how much grace will we receive for our business? Do you think it’s going to work on judgment day to say – “God, I know you gave me so much comfort and you wanted me to pass it on, but I just didn’t have time.” I think we just need to find a way to be hospitable somehow.

And now turn to Romans 12 Romans 12 is similar to 2 Corinthians 1 in that it teaches us that we ought to be a certain kind of person because God was a certain way to us. Romans 11:33-12:3. Consider God’s grace, Paul says. Think about what He’s done for us and then we humble ourselves, 12:3. And then we are so grateful that we get busy doing the work of God. Romans 12:9-21. Loving everyone genuinely. That’s hard sometimes. We can be complainers. Venomous. Angry. Unkind. Hypocrites. Devoted to one another. Prefer the other. Are you devoted to me? Do you prefer me? Serving the Lord. How? By serving each other. Needs of the saints. Hospitality – Strangers!. Accept hurt feelings, people treating you bad. How do you respond when someone treats you bad? How should we? I prefer to avoid. That’s not Biblical. Associate with the lowly. I know there’s some people in this church that you’ll never be close friends with because they’re just not your kind of people. But we still need to be as close to them as possible, associating ourselves with them. All of this is born from our appreciation for the grace of God. If we are thankful, then we treat others in these ways.

Finally, turn to Matthew 25:31-46. These are weird questions for judgment day and really the ones we think we’ll hear. God’s asking how did I do when I saw a needy brother, 25:40? What examples are we going to give?

If we appreciate the comfort of God, the grace of God, the love of God, then it will be obvious – by the way we’re looking after our brethren. This is a convicting thought for me, and I hope that we can all find ways to do a better job providing comfort and encouragement to the people of God.

1 Timothy 4:1-5.

There was a religious group that was popular back when I was in college called the Crossroads Movement, or some people called it the Boston Movement because that’s where it started. But it was also big in San Diego, and it was actually started by some brethren from Churches like ours, churches of Christ back east. Their members were known for being very zealous, extremely evangelistic. You meet them and they’re all very enthusiastic. But let me explain how they got this way. Each member had what they called a discipling partner. This was your mentor. Somebody that you answered. You confessed your sins to. And your mentor had a mentor as well. This was the way they kept each other accountable. Now if you weren’t doing what you were supposed to: If you weren’t doing enough evangelism, or if you weren’t being disciplined enough, then there would be consequences. I recall one woman having to wash the floors of the building after a church leadership meeting for not doing what her discipler thought she should. How much holier would you be if you had someone above you keeping you in line like this?

1 Timothy 4 gives an example of Gods people believing from early on that holiness must be forced. That it’s achieved by abstaining from foods which God created to be gratefully shared in by believers, But Paul’s message instead is that we don’t achieve godliness by depriving ourselves of God’s blessings. We actually need to partake of pleasant things and learn to use them to feed our Spirit instead of our flesh.

It seems like the false teachers in Bible days were mean. I don’t know why anybody fell for their teachings because they don’t seem very likeable. They were controlling, and they didn’t want anybody to have fun or enjoy anything. And apparently lots of Christians believed that message. Paul said the Corinthians liked it when they got hit in the mouth. That’s leadership. He also wrote about brethren who believed in wounding the body to keep it other control. Some of the Galatians were excited to find leaders who would control them with strict Laws. Why? Because we can’t control ourselves! We want to do right and be holy but we just can’t do it, right?

How can we become more godly and draw nearer to the Lord? Let me show you the lesson from God’s dining room.

It begins . . . 1 Timothy 4:1-2. So who thought of the idea of trying to control the flesh by forbidding great food, and by staying away from marriage and other joyful things? Well that’s the devil’s idea. He’s all about depriving people of things and pretending that the holier you are the less pleasurable things you do. Of course it is true that we need to avoid wickedness and make sacrifices when necessary. But an ascetic lifestyle doesn’t make a person more holy. And the ones who fall for that teaching are believing liars who have no conscience.

1 Timothy 4:3-5 says . . . Here according to this passage the ungodly forbid, While the godly permit and appreciate and thank God. The godly use pleasurable things as a way to grow Spiritually.

We took a trip one day to Astoria, Oregon a while back, and we ate at a seafood restaurant that had this view as you looked out the window. This picture does it no justice. I wish you could all see what we saw. This is a river that’s flowing in the Pacific Ocean (Columbia River). There’s a line right where they converge where over 200 ships have sunk. When you find views like this, you tend to pray, right? Like a peaceful day in the woods or drifting on the river. You thank God for the blessing.

And that’s what 1 Timothy 4 is telling us to do every day. To be holy, we don’t deprive ourselves, but when we do partake, we do so: With gratitude. Ungodly Christians are the ones who complain about everything. Their life is miserable and hopeless and void of pleasure. And you should be too. That’s not Christianity. When I was a teenager I hung out with a group of kids that I found in churches in San Diego where I lived. They were godly kids. Not perfect but any means, but they loved to praise God in song and prayer, and they loved His Word and they loved His people. It was so important for me to have found that group and learn that fun and happiness was an important part of godliness. We had an indoor soccer team that we all played on together. We’d go to coffee shops late at night. D.J. would get too loud, he had no filter, and we’d get kicked out. But before we did, we’d pray together for our food and people would notice that. We went to a baseball game together. The traffic was horrible getting out after the game, so a couple of my friends jumped out of the car and did Chinese fire drills around some of the other cars waiting in line. We just had a good time together, and we did something that sometimes Christians forget to do. We enjoyed life. But we enjoyed it in the right way, showing gratitude and consecrating all of it with the Word of God and prayer. Most of it.

And notice that’s how the passage ends, with the pleasures consecrated with the Word of God. 1 Timothy 4:5. Some of us are partaking in pleasures that are not consecrated by this book and you know it. And it’s pretty easy to tell which ones they are. They’re the ones you’re not offering thanks to God for because your conscience won’t allow you to do so. Godly Christians spend a lot of time with God, at His table, partaking of His blessings and constantly expressing their gratitude to their creator.

It’s probably not something that comes naturally. We have to train ourselves for this kind of godliness, as Paul indicates 2 verses further down. 1 Timothy 4:7-8 This kind of grateful living is something we have to remind ourselves to do. It’s easier to focus on the discipline and control than the blessings and the gratitude.

So what can we do to increase our godliness and draw closer to God? Should we do more to show God how miserable we can be and how strong we are to be able to tolerate our horrible situation in life? How we can suck it up and play the victim until we die? Or will we sit at the table prepared for us, Our head anointed with oil, Our cup overflowing. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And learn to turn those sources of joy into spiritual growth through thanksgiving and training? Let’s draw closer to God through His blessings, in gratitude, consecrating them with the word of God and prayer.

1 Peter 1:13-16 says . . . You can see from these four verses that God commands holy conduct from his people. We don’t conform to lusts, we conform to a pure life like we see in scriptures. Do you know why? Did you notice the passage began with the word therefore? Why are we to be holy? Take a look at what Peter had just said, 1 Peter 1:3-12. That’s why we are to be holy. Because we are so fortunate to be God’s people, because God has piled the blessings onto us in this calling, and so we’re going to now do our part. And we’re not the kind of people who settle.

Don’t forget who you are. You are someone who has forsaken this world. You thought it was garbage, not worth your devotion. You hate sin and its lusts and sought a way out. They were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. What does that say about you? That you are not the kind of person who settles. And so if that truly defines who you are, then you’re not going to settle for mediocre in holiness either.

When God commands us to be holy, He means for us to be different. Leviticus 20:26 defines it as being set apart from everything and everyone else. It’s sad that God’s way is the different way, isn’t it? It used to be the normal way, and so I guess the “holy” way was the bad way, the devil’s way. But he turned that around.

But holiness doesn’t just mean being different. It also means being special or extraordinary. God often took common things throughout the Bible and make them important and significant. Like the dirt in Exodus 3:5 at the burning bush. He made clothes holy and bread holy. So by being holy, we’re not just trying to be different, we’re striving to be special and valuable and important.

1 Peter 5:6

2 Peter 1:4

Romans 8:29-30.

I see it being uncomfortable for some brethren to discuss ambition, because it certainly can be a selfish thing, Paul condemns selfish ambition as a matter of fact in Philippians 2:3. The problem is if we’re not ambitious then we settle. We’re not going to have a determination to pursue holiness, like Hebrews 12:14 commands. We’re not going to try and perfect holiness in our lives like 2 Corinthians 7:1 commands. And we’re just going to do the minimum. What happens to a church that is full of people who don’t have spiritual ambition? No evangelistic ambition, no desire to grow, they like how things are, how they’ve always been. That’s not a holy church.

What got me thinking about today’s lesson is a sentiment I heard recently indicating that God loves us for who we are right now – our personality quirks, the little things that make us special. I love all my kids for what makes them unique. They each have their own sense of humor, their strengths and likes and they each bring a certain energy, and I love that and they don’t have to be anything else for me to love them. And certainly that’s true of God, but it’s not everything. That’s just a layer. Because there’s a spirit inside of you that God is jealously desiring as well, that’s weak and dying and needs to be nurtured and fed and developed. James 4:5. And you’re blocking it. You’re preventing it from developing because you have other things that you want to do. You lack the ambition that God wants from you to make it fruitful and whole and you’re not willing to be extraordinary.

Holiness Is Ambition. When Peter said, “You shall be holy for I am holy,” He was quoting God from back in the Book of Leviticus, 11:44, 45, 19:2, 20:7, when God was just teaching the Jews how to tell the difference between special and common. 1 Peter is doing the same thing in the New Testament, emphasizing holiness over and over again to teach us how important it is. Did you know that the first book taught to children by ancient Jewish parents was Leviticus? Is that where you would begin? Because they wanted their children to understand first of all what it means to be holy to the Lord.

If you’re ready to pursue God’s holiness, Peter mentions three areas of focus in verses 13-16. 1 Peter 1:13-16. We get our minds holy. So how do we do that? We get them focused on our hope. Do you have a holy mind? That is set completely on our hope? Or do you have a mind that fixates on things in this life? We get our minds holy. And then we get our desires holy. It’s interesting to me that the word desire and lust in the Bible is the same word, and that lust isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For example, Jesus lusted to eat the Passover with His disciples in Luke 22:15. Are your lusts holy? Do you covet the sanctified things? Like being with God’s people? And singing praises to Him? Reading the Bible? Living morally? We can change what we want, I know that because God commands us to do it. And then we get our conduct holy. When we choose between two different courses of conduct, to do the godly thing or the profane thing, think of it as a choice between the special and the common thing, Like are you going to choose the hand-made work of art or the made in China? Which sort are we? The precious choice or the common choice? And Peter gives so many examples of these types of choices throughout the rest of his letter, like In our choice between loving people sincerely and earnestly from the heart or not, 1:22. In representing God honorably or being like everyone else, 2:12. In submitting to our government and not, 2:17. Treating our bosses and masters well or not working hard for them, 2:18. Or submitting to an undeserving husband because it’s treasure, 3:1? Husbands working to understand their wives, 3:7. Being kind and compassionate and good to evil people, hoping for their sake they’ll get the clue, 3:8-9, or when people push us around we’ll push back.

Are you ready to be ambitious with your faith by perfecting holiness, or are we going to be the kind of Christians who settle? Holy people have an ambition for the best. They don’t settle. They push for every bit of holiness they can get. That doesn’t mean they have it all. We are saved by grace through faith. But certainly pursuit of holiness is an indication that people have the saving faith God is looking for. Be holy. If you are tired of the world and are looking for something better, the message of the gospel is that there is hope, because God has prepared a better place for everyone who is willing to entrust themselves to Him.

Since we are looking at end-times in our Thessalonian Bible class, I thought it would be prudent for us to study Daniel over the next couple of weeks in our evening sermons since Daniel has so much to say about end-time prophecy himself, especially in the last few chapters. But today we’re going to start with the first vision that Daniel sees and then work our way through the book.

So here’s a survey of the book of Daniel. The first six chapters cover the story of Daniel’s early life, Shdadrach, Meshack and Abed-nego, the Lion’s Den, And Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about nations and being turned into a wild beast. And then starting from chapter seven is the part of Daniel that we don’t tell our kids. Because it’s weird and we don’t fully understand it. And those prophesies get increasingly more complex throughout the book.

Good evening. We started a study last week of the visions that Daniel saw, which are recorded in the book of Daniel, Noting that there were several throughout the book, but that they all seem to be prophesying about the same thing in different ways – That after Babylon, the Persions and Medes will come into power, then the Greeks, and then the Romans. And during the reign of the Romans, the Kingdom of God will begin. Each one of them represents nations that will rise up and rule the world. The lion with wings is whom? That’s Babylon, Daniel says, the Kingdom that was reigning in his day. Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom. The second Kingdom was comprised of two parts, and it was represented by a lopsided bear in 7:5 (and a goat with two different sized horns later). Well the kingdom that came after Babylon in history was the Medo -Persian empire, an alliance although the Persians were way more powerful. And then the third Kingdom was this four-headed leopard, and it represents Greece. Why did the nation of Greece have four heads? Because when Alexander the Great died, he split his kingdom between four different rulers, and we’ll talk about that. So then what Kingdom is left? Which one comes after Greece in history that’s represented by this creature with 10 horns? Well that’s Rome. And that catches us up to Daniel 9.

In chapter two they are represented by a statue.

Now in chapter 7 they are represented by . . .

And then in chapter 8, The medo -Person empire is now represented by a Ram with different sized horns.

And Rome is represented by a goat. 8:21. And then Daniel is told more about the Kings of Greece in 9-11. 8:9-11. Ok, so what does this all mean? Well the angel tells us, 8:21-22. So that’s really helpful. And then some king will come from Greece and be extremely evil, 23-25. So who was this guy? Well, there was a really bad ruler named Antiochus Ephiphanes who fought God’s people (175-163 B.C.). In many ways he fits the descriptions that are given here. His nephew was the rightful heir to the throne, but Antiochus seized it through bribery and flattery. He made many conquests in the south, east, and in the beautiful land of Palestine . Antiochus severely persecuted the Jews in about 170 B.C. by assassinating Onias III, the high priest. During his reign he executed thousands of Jews. In 167 B.C. Antiochus performed his crowning act of sacrilege against the Jews by erecting an altar to Zeus in the temple and offering swine on it. So that fits what we know from history, and it benefits our faith that we can see God knowing the future before it happens. And isn’t it also comforting to know that God controls the nations? Always has. He understands what’s going on even now. And he could tell us what’s going to happen a couple of hundred years from now. That’s an interesting thought. Now by the end of the prophesies provided to Daniel in chapter 8, the scripture says that he was exhausted for several days, and he has to take some time off before getting back to the service of the king.

In so now turn to chapter 9. Here, verse 2 tells us that Daniel figured out one of Jeremiah’s prophecies, that Israel’s Babylonian captivity will last 70 years. (and that time’s almost up!) 9:2 So he prays, “God please let everybody go home!” Daniel 9:16. And as soon as he prays this, the angel Gabriel flies down to talk to him (Do you remember him? He broke the news of Jesus to Joseph and Mary, John the Baptist to Zechariah and Elizabeth). He flies down and he says, “OK, good job figuring out the 70 years. Now forget about that, because I’ve got another 70 for you to consider. He says, “The next 70 weeks are the greatest 70 weeks in man’s history!” 9:20-24.

Daniel 9:25-27. First 7 weeks - Jerusalem gets rebuilt. Next 62 weeks – Jerusalem back to normal. Next ½ week – Jesus comes to fulfill the covenant and be the final offering. Final ½ week – Jerusalem destroyed again for good.

In Daniel 10, Daniel is given a little more insight into the future. 10:1 And the whole experience is sickening to him. He’s terrified and he doesn’t like it at all. 10:2 And then a man dressed in linen comes along to explain the vision to him, 10:4-5. And now we have to turn to chapter 11 to read about the vision Daniel received that game him nightmares.

11:1-2. Notice how specific this prophesy is. Sometimes prophecy is not, for example in the book of Revelation it’s often very generalized: 8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. In Persia’s history, the next three Kings ended up being Cambyses (530 BC), Smerdis (522 BC) and Darius 1 Hystaspes (522 BC). And the 4th King was Xerxes. Have you heard of him? Esther’s husband, 1:3-4? He certainly had great wealth, remember?

11:3 After four Kings, another will rise up, have great power and then his kingdom will be divided into fourths. 11:4. Remember the leopard with four heads, the flying goat whose large horn was replaced by four horns? 7:6

Here’s what history says; Alexander the great conquered Persia, then divided his kingdom into four parts. The southern part was Egypt. Now read 11:5. Historically all kinds of neat drama starts happening after Alexander the Great turns his power over to his Generals.

11.6. You’ve heard of the Capulets/ Montegues? Hatfiels McCoys? How about the Ptolemys and Seleucids? The Southern part of the Kingdom gave rise to the Ptolemies. But King Ptolemy 1 had a general named Seleucus that left and started his own legacy in Syria/Babylon area. His land was bigger than Ptolemy’s. I don’t expect you to memorize all of this information, but I do hope you can see that these prophesies in Daniel are specific and match what actually happened afterwards.

11:6 says they would form an alliance, and history says Berenice of the Ptolemys married Antiochus II of the Seleucid. So that was a great alliance until one of Antiochus’ other wives killed them both and ended peace, 11:6.

So the daughter of the King of the South is out. BUT her brother comes up and attacks the Seleucids and defeats them, takes away their treasures. And then the Seleucid King Ptolemy the III goes south to fight back, loses and goes home, 11:7-10. Now one of the Seleucid King’s three sons tries again and attacks, taking some of Egypt, But Ptolemy the IV puts together a massive army and fights back and wins, 10-12. But then Antiochus the III rises up and battles them and wins ( Hatfields / McCoys!), 13.

Verse 14 says the Jews now take the side of the Seleucids, which turns out bad for them. And what happens in history is Antiochus III beats the Ptolemies, defeats Syria (11:15 well-fortified city), and occupies Palestine. And notice what he does in 11:17. “Honey, go marry him, talk nice to him and turn him over to me!” His daughter was named Cleopatra. This really backfired for Antiochus III, because Cleopatra actually liked the Egyptian guy she married and like the Ptolemys.

But the Seleucid King goes away and fights elsewhere (Asia Minor) until he is defeated by a Roman named Lucius Cornelius Scipio in 191 B.C., v. 19. His successor likes Taxes (a lot) and nearly taxed his people to death before he is poisoned by the tax guy Heliodorus, 20. So what do you think of this chapter so far? Are you impressed at how detailed it is? This isn’t Nostradamus, is it? No wonder unbelievers see this as being written not too long before Christ. Otherwise they’d have to admit that the Bible knows the future.

Up to this point, you have just your average bad, selfish men. But now the vile man comes, perhaps the man of Daniel’s nightmare, 11:21. Antiochus Ephiphanes shouldn’t have been king. He wasn’t the heir. The kings of Asia Minor and his own flattery helped him gain it. But he’s powerful and mean. He defeated the Ptolemy King and hold him hostage, 22.

Onias III, the high priest of Israel, was killed leading to the ending of temple sacrifice. Antiochus was powerful and deceitful. He made allies and then plundered them, 23-24. He defeated the Ptolemy, 25-26. He persecuted the Jews, 27-28. Finally, he attacked the Southern Kingdom again and lost, 29-30, thanks to Romans ships from Cyprus persuading him to go home. His most memorable atrocities were saved for the Jews:

In verse 31 we see that Antiochus would send forces against the temple in Jerusalem . All the Jewish religious practices such as circumcision, possessing the Scriptures, sacrifices, and feast days were forbidden on penalty of death. The desecration continued as an altar of Zeus was erected in the temple. Swine was also offered in the temple, completely defiling the temple of God . In verse 32 we see that the wicked against God would continue in their evil, while the true people of God would display strength. The teachers of the people will teach many, but they, too, will suffer death or captivity during this time ( vs. 33). During this period of oppression, those who are faithful to the Lord will receive a little help ( vs. 34). This may be an allusion to the small number of people who were fighting against the actions of Antiochus. However, as the revolt began to grow, many more would join the rebellion. These events were to purify the people of God. This was a tool of God to try to bring the hearts of the people back to Him. The appointed end of the Jewish nation was still in the future.

11:36-45 Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemy line, aided by Mark Antony begins to push against Rome . This leads to Rome declaring war against Egypt under the leadership of Octavian. Octavian would later become Augustus Caesar. The Ptolemies were put to an end as Rome conquered and won in the battle of Actium . As the Romans began their conquests, Edom , Moab , and Ammon were able to escape (vs. 41). The Romans also took control of Egypt and the surrounding nations as they continued their conquests (vs. 42). Therefore, the Romans controlled much of the known world and the nations were in subjection to them (vs. 43). The Romans placed many taxes on the nations to increase its wealth. Some would try to rise up against Rome , but it was useless. The Romans had great power and swept away any nation that tried to conquer it (vs. 44). Rome would exercise its power over the Jewish nation, but we are told that an end was appointed for the Roman empire , which was yet to be seen (vs. 45).

So what was Daniel so terrified about? Were you scared thinking about Greece and Rome? Probably not. But what if God told you what was going to happen to us over the next couple hundred years? And you knew that your children and grandchildren would be affected by it? I think most of us imagine that bad times are coming, and some new nation is going to arise at some point, and the world will go on as it always has, in upheaval. So what’s the comfort in the book of Daniel? I hope you’ve seen it. Evil is not running the show. God foresees it because he makes it happen. So don’t be afraid. John 16:33. Matthew 6:33 We’ll conclude with chapter 12 next week.

Since we are looking at end-times in our Thessalonian Bible class, I thought it would be prudent for us to study Daniel over the next couple of weeks in our evening sermons since Daniel has so much to say about end-time prophecy himself, especially in the last few chapters. But today we’re going to start with the first vision that Daniel sees and then work our way through the book.

So here’s a survey of the book of Daniel. The first six chapters cover the story of Daniel’s early life, Shdadrach, Meshack and Abed-nego, the Lion’s Den, And Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about nations and being turned into a wild beast. And then starting from chapter seven is the part of Daniel that we don’t tell our kids. Because it’s weird and we don’t fully understand it. And those prophesies get increasingly more complex throughout the book.

So let’s go through the prophesies of Daniel together and build our foundation of understanding for New Testament prophesies about the end times. And I want you to notice that all of the visions of Daniel are tied together and build off of each other. So we start with Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the statue. Daniel 2:31-35. I think we’ve got this one, right? Daniel 2:36-38 The golden head is Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, the United States of his day, the world power. 39 The silver chest is a lesser kingdom, the bronze belly the kingdom after that. 40 And then a fourth kingdom that is powerful but divided. And then during the reign of the fourth divided Kingdom will come a Kingdom that will endure forever, Matthew 4:17, Luke 1:32-33. So yes, we’re not told the name of these four kingdoms yet, but it’s easy to figure out from history and because Daniel has more to say about them later on.

So now we skip over to chapter five where the next vision is described. Here, God takes away the Kingdom from the Babylonians,

. . . and gives it to an alliance of two nations, the Persian people and the Medes. Daniel 5:30-31 In other parts of the Bible we read about Cyrus the Great, who is Persian, and is the greatest King that comes from this alliance. The “Babylonian Chronicles” reports that Cyrus put a man in as Governor over Babylon, which was probably Darius. It’s important to remember that even though these kingdoms are One, one is more powerful than another. You’ll see that in other passages said in different ways.

Now in chapter 7 the visions continue, only this time it’s weird animals. 7:1-8 Just like Daniel 2 there are four parts to the vision. Think there’s any correlation? Also, each creature represents a Nation or King, 7:17-18, 23.

Out of the sea comes . . . Daniel 7:4. It’s not explained what this Kingdom represents, but I guess we’re expected to figure it out. It makes most sense that this would be the first nation, the Babylonians (Show statue).

By the way, take a look at this Babylonian artwork. What do you think?

How about his one? Babylon liked winged lions with people heads. But theirs got plucked and then overthrown.

We also aren’t told what nation the lopsided bear is. Can you guess? Well, the Medo -Persian was a lopsided empire, with one side being more powerful than another. That makes a lot of sense.

Next is this flying leopard with four heads, 7:6. And again we’re not told what this means, and Daniel doesn’t seem to care to much right now. But the world power after the medo-persians was Alexander the Great – remember him? – And the Greeks. And when he died, as commentator Albert Barnes records, “It is well known that when Alexander died, his empire was left to four of his generals, and that they came to be at the head of as many distinct dominions.”

Daniel is fixated on that 4th creature for some reason, that is . . . Daniel 7:7-8, 21-22. So this is where the angel focuses. He doesn’t say what Kingdom he’s talking about, but he says it’s the 4th world power from Babylon, which history says is Rome. And this angel says all those horns mean something, 7:24-27. So it’s a kingdom that has ten kings come up, and then the next one is really bad and he loses the kingdom for his wickedness. Now if you look on Wikipedia and you’re just counting Emporers of Rome, you have 1) Augustus; 2) Tiberius; 3) Caligula; 4) Claudius; 5) Nero; 6) Galba; 7) Otho; 8) Vitellius 9) Vespasian; and 10) Titus. And the next one is a really bad one to Christians, Domitian. He’s also the one reigning when John writes the book of Revelation, interestingly.

So now let’s turn our attention to Daniel chapter 8. And it’s funny, it feels like he’s going through the same pattern again, different kingdoms in succession represented by different kinds of animals again. This time the first one he sees is a Ram, 8:3-4. Hmmm. One horn longer than another. What do you think? Well, here’s what the angel says about it, 8:20. OK, that was easy!

But then there’s a goat, 8:5-8. Hmmm. I’m already thinking I know what this is. What about you? But there’s more, 8:9-11. Ok, so what does this all mean? Well the angel tells us, 8:21-22. Wow, that was easy! And then some king will come from Greece and be extremely evil, 23-25. So who was this guy? Well, there was a really bad guy named Antiochus Ephiphanes who fought God’s people (175-163 B.C.). In many ways he fits the descriptions that are given here. His nephew was the rightful heir to the throne, but Antiochus seized it through bribery and flattery. He made many conquests in the south, east, and in the beautiful land of Palestine . Antiochus severely persecuted the Jews in about 170 B.C. by assassinating Onias III, the high priest. During his reign he executed thousands of Jews. In 167 B.C. Antiochus performed his crowning act of sacrilege against the Jews by erecting an altar to Zeus in the temple and offering swine on it. So what do you think of Daniel so far? Do you get it? Isn’t the Bible amazing, that it knew all of that before it happened? And isn’t it comforting to know that God controls the nations? Always has. He knew centuries ahead of time that a really bad man was going to arise out of the Greek empire and fight his people. And then out of the Roman empire. He understands what’s going on even now. And he could tell us what’s going to happen a couple of hundred years from now. That’s an interesting thought.

When we get to the book of Revelation, it’s interesting because there’s a crazy beast there that has . . . And we need to think at that point,” I’ve read that somewhere before” so we know what the Bible is talking about. So Daniel told us what’s going to happen, and maybe Revelation is more like a “See, I told you!” Trust in the Lord.

We’ll continue looking at Daniel’s visions next week. I hope you feel like you have a good grasp of their meaning up to chapter 8.

January 13, 2019 Good morning.

And then what’s the big question in chapter 5 versus 1-11? Paul’s message here: Just be ready: 1 I already told you. So what’s the problem? Read 2 Thess 2:1-6. They didn’t like the answer. Some were teaching otherwise. 2 Fully aware. What does this mean? What about the trumpets and the noise? 3 What do we say? Be alert. 4-5 How do we prepare for it? 6-7 Means? Unprepared, in the darkness. We live in the light and the day. The darkness causes drowsiness and we are no longer alert. 8-8 Here we go again. Faith, hope and love. Work of faith/Breastplate. Labor of love/breastplate. Steadfastness of hope/helmet. What do breastplates do? What does faith do? (Righteousness also protects us). Staying busy also protects us. Loving others protects us. Helmet – salvation and hope. What do they have in common? They protect our minds. How? From discouragement. 8-11 Be ready, don’t be discouraged that it isn’t here already, stay hopeful and encouraged.

So let’s wrap it up; Nobody ever has problems with this, do they? What should we do about the flaws of a leader? When is it time to leave? 13 Key: Believe in them. What kind of person is this? A leader, a worker, not a victim or a complainer. It’s too easy for us to get into that victim mindset, even leaders, when people pick on us. This is tough. How do you do it when you feel like someone is hurting you? 16-18 Connection between all of this? Thanksgiving, optimism. “In all circumstances.” Means? Not for everything, but despite everything. 19 How do we quench the Holy Spirit as a church? As a leader, it’s tough. You have to tune into people. The complaints, What might excite them again? How to get people to work? It can’t be your thing, it has to be something they get excited about. Make sure we’re doing our jobs, make sure people are excited to be a part of this congregation. Hit the right needs, the right problems in our conversations and preaching. 20 An interesting problem that we don’t have today. Is this truth? How do we know? Don’t get sick of everyone saying they have a prophecy. The final blessing, 23-24. What a big job. Will God surely do this? Let Him work on us, and trust that He can do it. I’m so thankful for this promise. 26 We’ve talked about this one. It’s Paul saying, “Give them a kiss for me.” Paul’s greeting them, Say hello to them for me. 1 Cor 16:20, Romans 16:16.

Let’s take a look at the 2nd letter to the Thessalonians. Which was written not too long after the first, maybe just a few months. Indications: Same people, 1:1 Same strengths and weaknesses, 1:3, 2:1-2. Not quickly shaken, 2:2

He wrote it because he had gotten a couple of reports that needed to be addressed: 2:1-3, 3:11.

What’s in it?

Let’s look at chapter 1 Read 1-2. What do you think about that for a church name? 3 Always giving thanks. Even though they’re flawed. Do you give thanks for the flawed members here? Are there ones you won’t because you see their flaws? Why? Because they did what Paul asked of them in the first letter. Grow. No mention of their hope, though. Their hope is a little confused right now. 4 Does mention perseverance though in v. 4 5 What does this mean? 6 Do you have prayers of vengeance? Some leaders maybe. Evolution, ungodliness. 7 More images of the end. Go over. 8 Those who do not know God. Who’s that? 9 Penalty – eternal destruction, Matthew 25:46. 10 Means? Glorified through us, in us. Everyone will see that we were right to give our lives to Christ. 11 Means that God will cause our good efforts to work.

Let’s take a look at chapter 2. And the first couple of verses explain the problem: 2:1-2. So what’s going on? Somebody’s teaching that the day of the Lord had already come. How could anyone believe that? What was different about the world that told them it had passed? 70 AD doctrine teaches this – There’s not going to be another future resurrection. This is it.

Man of Lawlessness:

Man of Lawlessness. Who is he? What can the Thessalonians know from this information about the second coming? There’s got to be a falling away. Sits in the temple Brings false signs and wonders

Let’s look at a couple of passages that are similar to this one. The first is in Matthew 24, when Jesus is explaining to the disciples with His second coming is going to happen. And you’ll see a lot of the same descriptions here. Matthew 24:9-23 (fall away, lawlessness, standing in the holy place, behold here is the Christ). What’s this talking about? The destruction of Jerusalem, Matthew 24:34, Luke 21:20. So who could be the man of lawlessness? The guy destroying Jerusalem, who’s dishonoring God’s temple, standing in it.

Look at Daniel 9’s prophesy about what happens before the end. And you can see how this is connected. Daniel 9:24-27. So what needs to happen before it’s all finished, according to this passage? And that’s what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2. The end can’t come until these things happen.

Now look at the book of Revelation, 13:1-2, 11-15. Who’s that first beast do you remember? Rome. And who’s the second? The authorities that force people to worship Rome. Remember that Satan is using Rome to defeat Christianity. He fails.

So who is the man of Lawlessness? I would imagine the head of Rome. 2 Thessalonians is talking about the same prophecies the Bible has mentioned for a long time. The end can’t come until God’s showdown with Rome.

Good morning, happy mother’s day. We are blessed to have so many godly mothers in our congregation this morning. I know for a fact that my mom is the reason I have a relationship with God today. She did the hard work of searching out the truth despite her parents’ lack of faith and teaching me and making God and His people a priority in my life. You kids are blessed to have moms who teach you about God. This morning we’re going to be looking at motherhood from the perspective of Mary, Jesus’ mother.

Mary of course today is the second most famous mother who ever lived (after Eve). But during her lifetime she didn’t stand out. She lived in a tiny little agricultural community called Nazareth which was a brand new town for her. Nothing really happened there, and people were just struggling to survive. She didn’t have any money, you might remember the humble temple sacrifice she and Joseph provided for Jesus after His birth which indicated poverty. She did come from an amazing family. Descended from King David a thousand years earlier. That’s why she and Joseph had to travel to Nazareth for the census, Luke 2:4. She was also descended from Zerubbabel, who lead the rebuilding of Jerusalem after Babylonian captivity 500 years earlier. But all of that’s in the past, and now they’re just regular people. Mary’s dad Eli and her mother probably lived nearby, they might have been some of the early settlers of the town. Maybe Joseph’s father Jacob and his mother had settled there as well.

They were just living lives like we do today, day to day. Remember that this wasn’t a miraculous age of prophets and miracles and demons yet. Joseph, Mary’s husband, building houses or furniture or fences. And Mary’s ambition was to be a wife and mother. If you had a choice, would you rather live a normal anonymous life or an extraordinary one? The extraordinary life would be harder with higher highs and lower lows. The normal life would be much easier. God wants to know what you’d choose. The Lord didn’t give Mary a choice. Luke records that and angel one days just showed up to her house and set her on her path. Luke 1:28.

These seems so weird to me. Some guy just shows up, walks into your house and starts telling you how great you are. Luke 1:30-31, 36. What would you say? All Mary could say was, Luke 1:38. How would you respond to that? Why did she even believe this guy was an angel I wonder? I remember Gideon requiring proof. Abraham didn’t know the men who visited him were angels. Maybe that’s why she went to check with her cousin Elizabeth to know what to believe. I’d have to take this in for a minute. So basically whatever plans she had are trash now. Something awesome’s about to happen, and the world doesn’t have a clue. It would be weird saying hello to the neighbors from then on who have no clue what’s about to happen. I know Mary’s excited because, Luke 1:46-47. But I want to show you the stress that Mary endured by taking the path God laid out for her as the mother of Jesus.

First, Joseph’s response to the good news is to divorce her. Now how does Mary feel after all of the gratitude she had just expressed to God? And then when God persuades Joseph not to divorce her, The couple must now explain to their fellow Nazarenes why Mary is pregnant. God doesn’t do it for them. It’s their burden. And then Mary was required to travel to Bethlehem for the census. I’ve never been 8 months pregnant before but I imagine that would be a long walk. Or maybe she got to ride the donkey. What’s that like while pregnant? And then how happy was Mary to have her baby born away from home in the barn? That is Mary’s cross to bear. Then Mary had to flee with Joseph to Egypt with her baby and spend his first years among people who don’t speak her language. So how pleasant was that for her? Away from grandparents? And home? Meanwhile King Herod just killed all of the newborn children in Bethlehem because he couldn’t find you and your son. So would Mary have been happier with “Normal?” One commentator said proximity to Christ is sorrow. This is the life so far of Mary the Mother of Jesus.

How much pressure would it be to have to raise the Messiah? How’d you do with your own kids? I know we weren’t perfect. What if the boy’s is a holy terror? What if you’re not watching Him and He hurts Himself badly? I remember when Jeffrey fell off a bench while I was watching him and got a huge knot on his head. But what if you did that with God’s Son? I doubt Jesus came with a manual. Remember when she lost Jesus in Jerusalem at 12 years old? No wonder Mary was so upset. Luke 2:48-50. I imagine it’s an inadequate feeling. I think about what it must have been like for Mary to watch Jesus decide to get into carpentry instead of saving the world. What did I do wrong? He’s 30 years old and hasn’t done anything yet. Has no wife, hasn’t done anything special yet. I think it’s funny how pushy Mary is at the wedding in Cana for Jesus to do something. John 2:1-5. Why do you involve me? I’ll tell you why, because you’re 30, Jesus. And you haven’t done anything yet and nobody knows who you are and it’s my responsibility to raise the Messiah, that’s why. So do something, Son. It’s time to be the Messiah! In Mark chapter three we learn that Mary was pretty sure Jesus has lost his mind, this time because it seems Jesus is doing too much. Mark 3:21. Even when your Son is God, I guess, you never stop being a mother. After all these things, Mary still had to watch her Son suffer. She had to hear the nasty things people were saying about him. I doubt she anticipated being at Golgotha watching the life drain out of her naked Son up on the cross. I’ve failed. Everything went wrong.

Do you remember what the angel said that changed Mary’s life forever? “Greetings, favored one!” He should have just handed her a cross right then because that’s what she carried as the mother of Jesus. So what was the blessing for her in all of this? What makes you feel favored as you do God’s work in your life? There were some great things for Mary that made being the Mother of Jesus better than living a quiet unspectacular part. For examples, she got to be a part of the salvation of mankind. Who wouldn’t want to have a role in that? Mary, let’s go reclaim the world together. I have a job for you. It’s going to be difficult. You want to come? Who wouldn’t want to be a part of God’s plan? Philippians 1:3-5. And it gave her value, Luke 1:48-52. Do you want to leave here and go live like everyone else? Go do what everyone else is doing? Fine, go ahead. Or, take up your cross and get a purpose. Romans 12:4ff. We need you. Finally, it brought Mary great treasure. Several times Mary would see something or hear something that she treasured in her heart, Luke 2:19, 2:51

Paul said . . . Philippians 1:3-5. We’re doing a great work in this area in providing a community for people seeking to follow the Old Paths among brethren who love each other and are united in truth. Laura was bragging on this church last Sunday, watching the gentleness of the brethren with each other.

Mary got to be a part of God’s plan. And it gave her value. Luke 1:48-52. I’m a nobody. But God is mindful of me. He shows me mercy. He lifts me up. Do you want to leave here and go live like everyone else? Just be a part of the rat race. Fine, go ahead. Or, take up your cross and get a purpose. Go embarrass yourself by talking to people. Face the wrath of your children by making faith the priority over sports and social events. That one’s fun. Romans 12:4ff. God gave me the wrench and you the saw. He didn’t give one person all the tools so we need you to participate.

Finally, it brought Mary great treasure. Several times Mary would see something or hear something that she treasured in her heart. Luke 2:19 Luke 2:51

Being a mother is a great burden. Being the mother chosen to raise the Savior of the World must have been formidable. We can all learn from the honor and suffering presented to Mary, because it’s the same conversation God has with each of us. First, God favors us. We are adopted into His family. Then He presents us with a task, and the taks comes with a cross. And He observes to see whether or not we treasure it. And I don’t think we all do. Some of us battle it instead. We become bitter. We complain about it. And then we quit participating and go back to the life that people are living out there where they are oblivious to what’s about to happen. Don’t forsake the work. Because when we give up the cross, we sacrifice our own value. How would you like to join God’s great work? Jesus’ uncle said, Luke 1:76-77. Come receive the forgiveness of sins right now.

Have you heard this Time Magazine report from, November 17, 2021? From the Health report section, the article begins: “This week the US FDA confirmed that the USDA regulations allowing meat processors to use up to 5 percent filler materials does in fact include cardboard paper. A house subcommittee will be convened in early 2021 to review this authorization in use of this material Also, the Birmingham Postherald posted online earlier this year on August 17, Joint inspection by the public health department and the USDA of meat processing plants in the Birmingham area involving Bryant meat company and the Zeigler corporation both have made what was termed minor violations of the 5 percent maximum filler material rule. The USDA regulations allow: Up to a maximum of 5 percent by volume of products used to make processed meat may be filler material And then down on the chart Meat processors are allowed to use up to a maximum of 5 percent (by volume) of filler material. List of USDA approved filler material: Chemicals (can’t pronounce) Gelatin, cereal or vegetable products In the fine print, cardboard (light-weight serrated cardboard) The good news about these stories is that they are not true. A brother in Montgomery made it up years ago and presented it as an invitation knowing we were all going to buy into it hook line and sinker, to show how important it is to be discerning. As Christians we are required to have a high level of wisdom that can recognize truth and error:

Philippians 1:9-10

Hebrews 5:14

Psalm 119:66

This is really hard when certain things sound so convincing. I remember this happening with President Obama because so many brethren were opposed to him. There were rumors about a sex scandal involving president Obama back in 2012. There’s a website offering proof that Obama is a Muslim in disguise. Or that Michelle Obama is a man, which always made me think, how? Or how about is Donald Trump working for the Russians? At the very least, discerning people work to know both sides of the story before making a factual determination based on their own solid evidence, and not the words of a website.

A while ago I heard about something called cryptozoology, which is the study of animals that are rumored to exist. Bigfoot Chupacabra The Abominable snowman People devote their lives trying to find these animals because someone thought they saw something in a forest, or because of a strange footprint or something. It’s considered a pseudoscience because cryptozoologists are often so obsessed with finding these animals that they forget to be scientific and professional about it. Lots of people buy hook line and sinker into the existence of these creatures on very little evidence. But on the other hand, why should we as Christians be surprised that man doesn’t know everything about the earth? Maybe there is some animal living in the depths somewhere. We know dinosaurs and man at one time lived together. Job 42 I hope someone finds a dinosaur one day, But discernment should cause us to pause when we hear about yetis and bigfoot while not being surprised when we hear about some new strange discovery.

Sometimes we hear about some great Biblical discovery that gets us excited. When we do, before reposting in on Facebook, or storing it away as fact in our minds, if we are discerning we will first work to decide whether or not it’s true. Have you seen these pictures before? A news report that stunned the world nine years ago about the discovery of possible ancient chariot wheels at the bottom of the Red Sea is suddenly gaining fresh attention with new video claiming “irrefutable evidence” that corroborates the find. In June 2003, WND interviewed Bible enthusiasts who dove the waters of the Red Sea, alleging they found and photographed parts of chariots that may be the actual remains of the catastrophe brought upon the Egyptian army which pursued the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus in the Bible. “I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel,” said Peter Elmer, a forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, who made two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. “It was covered in coral.” “I believe I actually sat in an ancient chariot cab,” he told WND at the time, referring to his time exploring a submerged item in the underwater junkyard. “Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian army.” Now, Michael Rood, a Hebrew-roots teacher, has produced a video proffering evidence Elmer is absolutely correct.

There’s even youtube videos taking you to these places so you can see them. There’s a man standing next to the pillar from Biblical times. There’s a diver pointing to the coral-encrusted wheel. Do you believe it? The scriptures tell us: Exodus 14:21-29. I would love for this to be real. I would love for men to find pillars and chariot wheels in the sea, because too many people doubt God’s account of what happened to the Egyptians. But we need to have lots of healthy skepticism about stories like this. Why isn’t this information more public? You do some digging and you find that this information was provided by an organization called the World News Daily Report, which is a satirical news site like the Onion. They made it up, and people are falling for it. If we use some discernment, we won’t be one of the victims not matter how eager we are to believe it.

Here’s another one that I’d heard about a while ago: NASA discovers a “lost day in time” Readers have been awestruck by the “missing day” legend since at least 1936, when the story emerged into popular culture via a book by Harry Rimmer, titled The Harmony of Science and Scripture, as reflected in this 1999 example from the Internet: For all the scientists out there and for all the students who have a hard time convincing these people regarding the truth of the Bible … here’s something that shows God’s awesome creation and shows that He is still in control. Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has been called “myth” in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland and a consultant in the space program, relates the following development. “I think one of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at GreenBelt, Maryland. They were checking the position of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be 100 years and 1000 years from now. We have to know this so we won’t send a satellite, up and have it bump into something later on in its orbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and where the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down. They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries and it came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that there was something wrong either with the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards. They called in the service department to check it out and they said, “What’s wrong?” Well, they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair. There was no answer. Finally, a Christian man on the team said, “You know, one time I was in Sunday School and they talked about the sun standing still.” While they didn’t believe him, they didn’t have an answer either, so they said, “Show us.” He got a Bible and went back to the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with “common sense.” There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, “Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.” Joshua was concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy and if darkness fell they would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That’s right — “The sun stood still and the moon stayed — and hasted not to go down about a whole day!” (Joshua 10:12-13) The astronauts and scientists said, “There is the missing day!” They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua’s day was 23 hours and 20 minutes — not a whole day. They read the Bible and there it was “about (approximately) a day” These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes you’ll still be in trouble 1,000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits. As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun went BACKWARDS. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings that told of the following story: Hezekiah, on his deathbed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said “Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?” Hezekiah said “It is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees.” Isaiah spoke to the Lord and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees BACKWARD! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty-three hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in the universe!” Isn’t it amazing? In his own work, Rimmer cited an 1890 book as his proof of the calculations behind the tale. Scholars dismissed Rimmer’s claims as baseless, but despite the authoritative debunkings of that time and in the years since, the legend continues to thrive. Indeed, the Internet has given it new legs, and spreading it to new audiences is as easy as clicking the ‘forward’ button. Cartoon of the legendAlthough the notion of a “lost day” in time has been circulating for well over a century, the version cited here, which has been bedevilling NASA since the 1960s, achieved pre-eminence through the tireless efforts of Mr. Harold Hill, who was indeed both a real person and the President of the Curtis Engine Company. However, he had no real connection to NASA, he was not a “consultant in the space program,” and he did not witness the events described. Mr. Hill merely heard a “lost day” legend that had been circulating for many years, embellished it with some details about NASA scientists, and delighted in repeating it when speaking before school groups. His version of the legend made its way into various church bulletins and was eventually picked up and spread by the mainstream media as well, and he devoted a whole chapter to it in his 1974 book, How to Live Like a King’s Kid. (This book lent additional credibility to his tenuous NASA connections — and thus to the legend itself — when he stated that he “was involved [in the space program] from the start, through contractual arrangements with my company.” His “involvement” was merely that the Curtis Engine Company had a contract with NASA to service electrical generators.) Even Hill’s admission that he hadn’t actually witnessed the events he described clearly wasn’t intended to dissuade anyone from believing in the literal truthfulness of his story: “[M]y inability to furnish documentation of the ‘Missing day’ incident in no way detracts from its authenticity.” The Public Affairs Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, responded to the prevalence of Hill’s fictitious story by issuing a press release that noted (among other things): [This center] has no knowledge of the use of its computers supposed by Mr. Harold Hill and attributed to our scientists. Goddard does not apply its computers to the task of projecting thousands of years into the future or past, as this would be irrelevant to the operational lifetime of satellites, which rarely exceeds a dozen years. [Harold Hill] worked briefly at Goddard early in the 1960s as a plant engineer, a position which would not place him in direct contact with our computer facilities or teams engaged in orbital computations. Historically, the notion of a “lost day” in time comes from a combination of two Old Testament passages. The first is from the Book of Joshua and describes Joshua’s defense of Gibeon from the five kings of the Amorites. In order to enable Joshua to finish off his enemies before they had a chance to flee under cover of darkness, God provided additional daylight by causing the sun to stand still in the sky for nearly a day: 10:12 Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day The second passage, from 2 Kings, describes Hezekiah’s request that God move the sun ten degrees backwards as confirmation of his promise that Hezekiah would be delivered into Heaven: 20:8 And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day? 20:9 And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? 20:10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. 20:11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

Next week we begin a study of the book of Joshua in our Wednesday evening class, which I would encourage everyone to make the time to attend, I think we only had about 10 of us there the last couple of weeks. So I thought we would take our lesson this morning from that book. There are at least three times in the Bible where it seems that people were rewarded by God for deceit. The first is the story of Jacob stealing his brother Esau’s blessing in Genesis 27. The second is the account of the Hebrew midwives in Exodus chapter 1 who used deceit to save the new-born children of Israel from Pharaoh. And the third, which I’d like to share with you this morning, is the story of the Gibeonites from Joshua 9. I don’t believe the lesson from these stories is that God is OK with lying, and I have preached about that. But that God loves us so much He is able to see our efforts to seek Him and to please Him even when they include our inevitable failures. Read with me the story of the Gibeonites from Joshua chapter 9. Joshua 9:1-15.

What would you have done if you were the Gibeonites? God’s army is coming for you. They are impossibly powerful. No army today could stand up against them. They’d already defeated the most powerful army on earth without even trying. They win battles without losing a soldier. They effect their enemies mentally, as if a spell is cast over them to the point where they turn against themselves. Battle plans are abandoned. If you run from them you’ll be pursued by storm clouds and deadly hailstones. This is an army of God, and everybody knows it. And they’re coming for Gibeon sooner or later because they are Canaanites, the Sodom and Gomorrah of the time. So what are you going to do? Joshua 10:2 says they were a warrior nation, Joshua 10:2. Everyone of them were the Samurai of their day, Gladiators. Joshua 9:4 calls them cunning. The KJV says they did work wilily. So you’re strong, and you’re cunning. What are you going to use to defeat God?

That’s what every nation in Canaan is trying to figure out. They know they’re in trouble. Five times the scripture says Canaan’s hearts melted upon hearing about the power of God working in the army of Israel. And each nation is leaning into their strengths to defeat Israel. Jericho was the first Canaanite nation to face the advance of Israel. And they believed their best strategy was to try and keep them out. God knocked their walls down Ai’s tried next, determining to defeat them by fighting with great courage. But God beats them with cunning. Other Canaanite cities try to defeat Israel by working together. They join forces to create a massive army; six nations against one. And God says, “Well, that’s helpful, I can just beat them all at once!” And the Lord beats them with mental warfare. And then drops gigantic hailstones on them.

The Gibeonites are scared. Which makes them smart enough to know they’re going to have to do something extremely radical to have a chance. So they decide against leaning on their skills in battle, and instead go with humility. Joshua 9 describes them dressing in their worst clothes and holiest shoes, and put some food and water in cheap sacks. And they road towards Israel’s army without any of their weapons. And this is the point in the story where they lie. One time when Brett was about 3 years old he drew me a picture. It was supposed to be our family, his brother and two sisters and mom and dad, in our house with our two dogs at the time. But it didn’t look anything like us. It was terrible. The circles weren’t circular. It was just a bunch of stick figures. Is that what you focused on when your kids brought you pictures when they were little? Of course not. We loved them. When Gibeon came to God in their deceit, I think we should not lose sight of the fact that God accepted them. It’s true they used deception. It’s also true Israel failed in this story to seek the counsel of God. But let’s not miss the great lessons about God’ acceptance of the Gibeonites who humbled themselves in the sight of the Lord because they came to him imperfectly.

One of my favorite verses in any song is the one in “Nearer, Still Nearer” Nothing I bring, naught as an offering to Jesus my King. Only my sinful, now contrite heart. Grant me the cleansing, Thy blood doth impart. What else do we have to offer him? We think we have to have it altogether to come to God. I did for a while before realizing that was going to be impossible. I think about people who wonder if they should take the Lord’s Supper because of how their week went. That’s missing the point. Partake it in the right way is what “Worthy manner” means. All of us had failed weeks. We won’t pray to God because we’re sinful. Then we’ll never pray. Don’t wait until you have it altogether to come up here and get started. Just bring a humble heart. It shouldn’t be so hard to believe that God accepted the deceitful Gibeonites who sought shelter from Him.

Did you know that when Israel left Egypt, some Egyptians were allowed by God to go with Israel? Exodus 12:37-38. Did you know the Gibeonites weren’t the first Canaanites to enter into covenant with Israel? How about Rahab (who also lied to save the spies) and her family? God is a merciful God, even towards Canaanites. It seems others in Canaan could have sought treaty with God. Joshua 11:18-20. Only Gibeon withstood the urge to wage war with Israel.

God required Israel to keep their covenant with Gibeon. And from then on God often would protect those deceitful Gibeonites. Like in chapter 10 when other Canaanite nations attacked Gibeon for being traitors. Or later when King Saul tried to eradicate them from Israel. God sent a 3-year drought against Israel to make the point that you don’t touch the Gibeonites! And God is waiting to stick up for you despite your status as an outsider, despite your flaws and failures. If you’ll just come to Him and seek His covenant.

And then throughout their history as children of God they became transformed by the Lord into useful servants. They became s ervants of the Levites, 1 Chronicles 16:39-40, 21:29. Their City becomes dwelling place of Tabernacle, as we just read. One of David’s mighty men, fittingly, was a Gibeonite, 1 Chronicles 12:4. Gibeon was where God came to Solomon, fittingly, about wisdom, 1 Kings 3:4. And later they helped rebuild Jerusalem, Nehemiah 3:7, 7:25.

So the lesson isn’t that it’s OK to sin, but that God is kind and gracious to those who come to Him. The Gibeonites had problems, but they also had some remarkable faith. They knew that God had commanded the destruction of Canaan. And they believed it. That’s why they pretended to not be from Canaan! They humbled themselves to become servants, from warriors. That takes great faith. Someone called it a “Glorious punishment” to be a servant in the house of God. And as we have seen, their future reflected this faith, in becoming useful citizens of Israel.

I love the message that Canaanites living in Canaan can still fight every dark instinct and cultural pressure and find a way, as best perhaps they knew how in that moment, to come to God. And you can do that too. Their city is long gone. It wasn’t until recently that archaeologists found it again for sure. They found the storage rooms for the water or wine that God had prophesied they would carry for Israel. The found the famous pool of Gibeon. But the people are nothing more than a memory. Would you like to follow their lead this morning? You don’t have to come perfectly. You just have to come humbly, James 4:10. And come obediently, Galatians 3:27. 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Good morning. Our Easter tradition in this church is different than a lot of other churches. It’s to not have an Easter celebration. And it’s not because we don’t believe Jesus rose from the dead on Easter. He did. This is the anniversary of His resurrection, no question, and He died on good Friday almost 2,000 years ago. We don’t have an Easter celebration actually as a way to honor Jesus. Because it’s not the thing He asked us to do. He asked us to devote ourselves to the communion, the Lord’s Supper, And the Word, and prayer, and fellowship, But it must mean something that He never asked us to do the same for Easter. I know Christians who get frustrated that there is such an emphasis in the religious world on Easter but not the things God asked us to emphasize. And so I thought I’d talk this morning about what the resurrection of Jesus should mean for us and how the Lord wanted us to be affected by it.

The message of the resurrection is that we can live a new life. Romans 6:1-4. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can be dead to a fleshly way of life and live spiritually instead.

In the next chapter, Paul says . . . Romans 7:5-6. And I think it’s significant that flesh and sin are two different things here. Flesh has to do with our life focus. Romans 8:5 says . . . Romans 8:5.

I’ve always thought it was interesting that right at the beginning of the Bible, when Cain killed his brother Abel and left to live a life apart from God, his descendants are described as being both sinful and innovative. Genesis 4:19-24. And I think about why the wicked descendants of men are inventing music and making things out of metal and agricultural innovations. I love innovations. I love that the human genome has finally been mapped completely as of this year. I can’t wait to start seeing images from James Webb telescope, and China apparently has some cool technology going up into space that will show us some things. God’s creation is awesome and I want to know about it. But I think there’s a lesson in Genesis 4 that our focus should not be on the physical life. When Cain’s good brother Seth’s accomplishments were described later on in Genesis 4, the Bible simply says . . .

Genesis 4:26. What does the resurrection of Jesus mean? That we have a chance at an upward-looking life. One of the most life-changing sermons I ever heard helped me see that our physical existence is happening right in the middle of a spiritual reality. He read a passage from 2 Kings 6 about the prophet Elisha being pursued by the King of Aram who surrounded him at Dothan. Gehazi was with Elisha at the time and terrified, but Elisha wasn’t at all because Elisha had an ability to see the chariots of God that protected him. 2 Kings 6:17. I pray that the reality of the spiritual world that surrounds you sinks in. That angels do come and go all around us, and that the devil is prowling, that heaven is a real place where God is waiting for us.

Let’s remember that we are more than flesh. We’re not animals that are fighting to survive on this planet. We do not need to be subject to survival of the fittest:

Where we have to be: Confident (because the weak are picked off). And be strong, because crybabies aren’t gonna make it. And be powerful, And calloused. And be opportunistic – because someone’s loss is our gain. And I actually based this list off of the beatitudes, where I just took the opposite of everything Jesus said there for us to be – poor in spirit, mourn, meek, merciful, peacemakers. This is the pre-resurrection list. This is how animals survive. Could you imagine animals in the wild surviving without these qualities? Like a polite and gentle cheetah or something? We’re not animals. We were created with humble, pure, tender spirits that get torn to pieces by the flesh’s solutions, and we were never designed to be like that. It’s time to be different. A mentor of mine who is one of the smartest people I know says that God took the tender spirits of men and placed them inside the physical bodies of alpha predators which if not controlled have the instincts of formidable creatures that need to be tamed.

Paul describes that struggle in Romans 7. Romans 7:15-24.

Living in the flesh is miserable. And if we’re trying to live in the flesh and keep God’s Law, we end up like Paul describes here. Wretched. You can’t do it. People who try to both live in the flesh and force themselves to obey God fail.

Jesus raised us up not to do the same old thing but to try something new. The old way doesn’t work, right? And I know the new way seems sketchy from the world’s perspective, so it’s scary to concede to it. Paul says it doesn’t sound like wisdom to the world. 1 Cor 1:21.

The scriptures also say the spiritual life makes little sense to our flesh, Galatians 5:17. So there is a voice inside of us that says it won’t work. Being nice to people who treat us badly. Not lying to keep out of trouble. Letting other people go before us. Living sacrificially. If you want to honor the resurrection of Jesus, live the new life He wants you to live.

Today’s Easter, and people around the world are going to church for the first time in a long time. They’ll pay their respects to Jesus for the resurrection because it seems like the decent thing to do, And they’ll go back home to the old life not even aware that Jesus never asked them to celebrate Easter. Won’t you honor the resurrection of Jesus that happened on this day 2 millennia ago in a different way? By living a new life of faith. If you’d like to know more about that life, come forward.

Thess 4:13-18.

Next week we will be studying 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 where Paul is correcting a church that developed some strange views about judgement day. Some got into their heads that it had already happened. Thess 2:1-2. How do you believe that if you’re still on the earth? Obviously it meant something weird to them, and actually there are brethren who believe it happened in 70 AD and there’s not a judgement day that we’re still waiting for. Also, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe it has already happened, or started to happen. The Thessalonians also stopped working, chapter 3 says, possibly because there was no point in their minds since the resurrection has passed. I’d like to just go over the timeline of events with you tonight and notice what the Bible says is going to happen to us when that final day comes. I was afraid of that day in my younger days, worried the trumpet was going to blow any second. I wasn’t sure I was ready, and I wondered if maybe I’d have a couple of seconds to say a quick prayer and get right or something? Except 1 Corinthians 15:52 says . . . So I would like to point out that God doesn’t describe this day to us in fear. 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Let’s try to find the comfort in the day of judgement instead. So let’s look at how it’s going to unfold.

First of all, it’s going to start like any other day. Thess 5:2, 2 Pet 3:10. I’ll probably make a cup of coffee on the day the world ends. I’ll probably have a banana that morning. I wonder if it in a million years we’ll remember exactly where we were and what we were doing, like a 9/11 moment?

And then everything changes forever the moment we hear that noise. Thess 4:16, 1 Cor 15:52.

Now if we are alive at the coming, one amazing event will be the resurrection of the dead who are in Christ. 4:15-16. They’re going to raise from the dead and meet the Lord in the air, which is really interesting because they’ve already been with the Lord in death, somewhere, or in paradise, they’ve already been at peace since the day of their death. But God brings them back. I believe there’s an important aspect of judgement day that we should not overlook – God wants to save not only our souls but our bodies. He reunites us with our bodies, we rise and meet God, and then our bodies will be transformed. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 I used to think we’d just be spirits floating around in heaven, but whatever this transformed, spiritual body is, it’s not a ghost, it’s a better spiritual version of what we’ve got. I remember Paul longing for his new body in 2 Corinthians 5. It’s an important part of our hope. We’ll be whole again in heaven, better than whole. Exalted.

1 Cor 15:51-55

So in a twinkling of an eye, before we can digest what is happening, bodies of the dead begin to rise from their graves. Doesn’t matter if they were burned at the stake, cut in 1 million pieces and shipped all over the world. It doesn’t matter if they were cremated. I know some Christians who are opposed to cremation because of the resurrection of the body. It means nothing to God. Even though these brethren had already been in paradise, they will be reunited with a body and rise.

And then, If the Lord allows us, we could look back and see everything we ever owned and knew burned up. 2 Peter 3:10. Which itself will not be a quiet event. The whole amazing universe. I wonder if there will be a twinge of pain when God sees His good creation destroyed.

And so now, with no going back, we are now homeless for a moment. Now we go stand before God to learn our fate. Acts 17:31. He already knows the date, that’s interesting. Romans 14:11 says . . . Everyone will bow at that point, out of honor or terror. we bow. This day is a certainty, Heb 9:27 So this will be our opportunity to have an individual moment with the Creator - to look into His eyes, hear His voice, see His face! And He will tell us what’s He’s been observing in us all these years.

He’ll either say . . . Matthew 25:34-35, 41-42. And I believe this passage is significant because it indicates that nobody gets into the final “heaven” until judgement day. So everyone who dies has to wait until judgement day before going to their final home. So let’s recognize that God is watching and noting what we’re doing and how we’re living. 2 Cor 5:10 I’ve been watching you to see what kind of deeds you choose to do, 25:35ff - tests every day! Warren. John 12:48 I wanted to see how ambitiously you received the words of Jesus.

If we end up going to hell, then this is the time when we’ll begin an eternity of terror. Mark 9:43-45. Matthew 25:41 calls it the eternal fire. Revelation 20 says it’s a lake of burning sulfur, a place of torment day and night forever. Revelation 20:15.

And maybe this is the moment when our fate finally sinks in. We’ve always known about heaven and hell. We’re all desperately seeking heaven, and hoping not to go to hell, but I doubt we’ll truly understand until that moment. Jesus did everything to help us hate it and avoid it, but it’s hard to really get it to sink in without actually experiencing it. My grandmother died without being a believer. She was the matriarch of our family for sure. Sometimes I try to imagine what it will be like for people I know to have to do judgement day, standing before God, being forced to bow, hearing their fate and getting tossed in.. That seems so hard. I don’t fully understand about no tears in heaven. I know God is sad about his children who will be lost, I guess we’ll just all cope together. What’s it going to be like for them? Will they see it before going in? Mark 10:43 - the unquenchable fire? Undying worm? At some point the devil joins to be tormented - can you picture his being casted in? If you go to hell you’ll have to be there with the devil and his demons, yet another reason to avoid it. So the earth is gone, only we as a soul is left. Job 1:20 And we hear Him say . . . Matt 25:34. So what’s next for us at that point? The 1st order of business will be a new body. 2 Cor 5:1, 1 Cor 15:42-55. That is going to be an amazing moment. It’s going to be amazing being without a body for a time, and then an awesome moment trying on the new one. Our new indestructable body that’s got to last for eternity. What are you going to do to try it out!?

And now we’re ready to walk into the city. Matthew 25:34. Have you ever thought about this city sitting empty somewhere? God having created it when He created this universe? In my mind I see it kinda like Disneyland I guess. There’s an entrance, and you look inside and there’s all of these building that are build in there just waiting to be occupied. Everything is perfect and marbly. But it’s just amazing to me that it’s sitting empty somewhere. Revelation describes it this way. Revelation 21:22-22:1-5. What is the atmosphere you see when you walk in those gates?

The reality that needs to sink in about that day is that it’s not the final day. It’s the 1st day. And it’s not the end of purpose, it’s the beginning of purpose. I don’t want to miss the next great adventure with our Father. Where will you be when the trumpet sounds, and you look up and see the King leading every single angle in your direction? Where will you stand when the earth burns up under your feet? The day is fixed, but do you know why He doesn’t tell us? Because He knows the sooner you start listening to Him the better for you! Just thinking about that day should remove our anxiety, 1 Thess 4:17-18, Rev 22:12, but increase our urgency. It’s not a day for baptism, that day is today. It’s not a day of repentance, 1 Cor 15:52, that day is today.

We’re beginning a study of 1 Thessalonians this morning, which is a letter to a brand new church and a worried apostle.

Towards the end of the letter is where Paul urges them to . . . 1 Thessalonians 5:16-21. Tonight we’re going to take a closer look at what it means to pray without ceasing to make sure we’re following this command properly.

What does it really mean to pray without ceasing? Earlier in the letter, Paul describes his own prayers about the Thessalonians in a similar way by saying, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3. What was Paul doing exactly? If we take the verse literally, Paul’s always praying, 24/7. When he’s sleeping, he’s praying. When he’s eating, he’s praying. It’s important to understand that the Bible uses figures of speech just like we do. I have a book that was required reading for me years ago going through examples of the Bible’s use of hyperbole, metaphor, simile and other types of figurative language. We need to understand that the Bible does this or we’ll get into trouble. Of course Paul is not saying to pray 24/7, so what does this mean?

Obviously whatever he’s asking of us is possible. Paul prayed always, yet he took the time to write this letter somehow. He probably slept occasionally. Spent a lot of time holy kissing people, apparently. Let’s look at some possibilities of what this scripture means.

Number one. It could mean, “Don’t give up on prayer or don’t quit on prayer.” Have you ever felt like giving up on prayer? You ask God for something that makes perfect moral sense, perfect love sense, perfect selfless sense, and it doesn’t happen. And you question the point of prayer. Which leads to not praying. What’s the point? I think many of us have experienced that to some extent. God says, “Don’t give up on prayer.” It’s not always easy. We don’t always get what we want. But it’s important. And God is good, Romans 8:28. God is telling us, “I want to keep hearing from you.” There’s only one time in the Bible that I can think of where God told a godly person, “Quit asking me that.” It was Moses who begged God to let him cross over into Canaan’s land. Deuteronomy 3:26. But He doesn’t have prophets anymore to tell us to quit asking. He wants us to be persistent with Him, whatever it is. Jesus told a parable in Luke 18 so that people would not lose hear in prayer, Luke 18:1ff. So maybe that’s the idea, “Don’t quit on prayer.”

But there’s another possibility, and maybe this is more what you were thinking. Maybe God is just saying, “Pray regularly.” Like Daniel did, according to Daniel 6:10. Daniel 6:10. He prayed in his routine, no matter what. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Christian say, “I can’t, that’s when I pray.” “Hey, do you want to come over and play some games or something Thursday night? “Can’t, that’s my prayer time.” Does anybody do that? Like we do with worship? Or maybe you don’t say it, but that’s what you do? Perhaps that’s the meaning here. But I’m inclined to believe he means something more in 1 Thessalonians 5.

I lean towards the view of one commentator who said that it refers to “A constant attitude” of prayer. Or being always in the spirit of prayer. Let’s say I tell the kids, “I want you to help your mom tomorrow. We’re having a lot of company this weekend, and we need to get the house ready. And if she gives me a report that you’re helpful all day, I have a reward for you.” Would you know what I mean? I said “all day.” Did that throw you off, like they would have to be doing whatever she said every second of the day? I doubt it. I’m sure you understood it to mean, “Having a helpful attitude all day. When she asks, you do it. When you see something that needs to be done, you’ll do it. Always be looking for opportunities to do something. And I believe that’s the idea here. Let me show some Bible examples of people who prayed without ceasing in this sense.

Nehemiah was this way. Do you know people who always seem to be on the verge of tears, or at least you’ve had those days. Nehemiah always seemed on the verge of prayer. One day Nehemiah got a visit from his brother Hanani. He had traveled a long way to see him, so there probably were some tears and hugs and happiness. Until Nehemiah asked how things were going in Jerusalem, and Hanani gave a bad report, 1:3 Right away Nehemiah sits down and weeps and mourns and fasts and prays, 1:4. And this is the kind of news where it’s appropriate to fast, when we are desperate for God’s intervention, when a prayer doesn’t feel like it’s big enough for the problem. Jesus said “When you fast,” many Bible Christians fasted such as the Antioch brethren, Paul while appointing elders in Acts 14:23. Nehemiah was always doing this, offering prayers up at the drop of a hat. A lot of them were just these little statements to God: 2:4, 5:19, 13:14, 22, 29, 31. If you are going to be the sort of person who prays without ceasing, this is what it will look like. I have moments that make me thankful, like this morning singing with you all. A random hug from the kids. And I have other moments where a worry crosses my mind. About my family, or staying on top of my responsibilities. Or I’ll hear a comment from the media or something going on in the world that reminds me the devil is still working hard, and is the prince of the power of the air. And those are the moments where we need to offer up a thought to God, like Nehemiah did. Those are the times when people who pray without ceasing pray. And I hope you’ll take that as a challenge this week. The ones who accept the challenge this week will find themselves offering up spontaneous prayers during the day, perhaps more often than before.

It’s not always going to be a quick few second prayer though. People who pray without ceasing sometimes will pray all night before a really big decision, like Jesus did when He had to choose the 12, including Judas. Luke 6:12 He would also pray for an hour at a time in the garden of Gethsemane, I imagine Him saying the same thought over and over. But then He would offer up these 30 second prayers as well, like in Matthew 11:25-27. Prayers come in all shapes and sizes.

The Psalms provide another example of having an attitude of prayer. Sometimes we just need to complain. And that should prompt a prayer, when you feel useless, or when life’s not fair: Psalm 55:17. Sometimes we are hungry for justice, Psalm 94:1. So I don’t think we take these words from Paul and think, “I need to find an extra hour in my day to pray!” That’s not the message. The message is that we need to always be on the verge of prayer. Be the sort of person who is always triggered to pray. Stop being the person who says, “I’ll be praying for you” and start being the person who already did it on the spur of the moment. Whether it’s a thanksgiving or a concern or an anger or a regret, we can’t help but take it to God that moment.

When I think about what kind of person it is who is drawn to God and His Word, I think about these words in Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Matthew 5:3ff Why is it that some come to God and some don’t? Tonight I’d like to ask you to think with me about the apostle Paul. We’ve been studying about him quite a bit in our Sunday morning classes, along with his letters and his missionary journeys. He was so important to God’s plan for the church. But why? Why did God pursue him, and why did he make such a great worker for the Lord?

Part of me wants to think that Paul was one of the evil, bad guys in the world whose heart was closed off to the truth, and that God had to go the extra mile to bring him to the truth by appearing to him on the road to Damascas. Acts 26:13-18. That would get anybody to change, right? Well, no.

That would not have worked on everybody. Luke 16:31. Paul must have already had a right kind of heart for the seed to be so effective in him. Luke 8:15.

But why did God bring Paul into the kingdom? Is it because Paul was just so talented that he needed his gifts and didn’t really care what kind of person Paul was? He was a 5-talent person, right? That’s not entirely true. 2 Cor 11:6 1 Cor 1:19, 21. Plus a lot of what made Paul Paul before becoming a Christian had to be disposed of to become a Christian. Phil 3:4-8 Sometimes we think that this person would be a great asset to the kingdom of heaven because they have these brilliant gifts and mind, but everyone has to empty themselves to come to the Lord and count it all but loss. I don’t think it’s entirely accurate to say all of that training that Paul had before becoming a Christian is what made him a great asset for the kingdom. Those things were a distraction to Paul salvation. They made him proud and self-righteous, Philippians 3:5-6, Galatians 1:15.

What Paul had that brought him to God were the same things that everybody has who comes to God, which are the things we read at the beginning of the lesson on the beatitudes. Paul was meek, he hungered for righteousness, and he was loving. One thing Paul found that drove him towards God was a profound sense of insecurity, lack of confidence or assurance, self-doubt. Have you ever heard the most driven people are the most insecure? Imposter syndrome, Jerry Rice The most ambitious Christian we know was also the most insecure, 1 Cor 15:9-10, 1 Cor 4:9, Phil 3:12-15, Col 1:28-29, 1 Tim 1:12-13, 2 Cor 4:9-10. It took Jesus to show to Paul that side of him, which he identified when he met Jesus. He was not powerful like he thought, Jesus was. He wasn’t righteousness, he’s the bad guy and not the Christians. And that’s the part of Paul that God fed. 2 Cor 12:7-10, Ecc 3:11 We think God wants our talents and skills. But He says strength is perfected in weakness. After the vision, the Lord makes him wait 14 years before he is appointed to his mission. How would that affect Paul to just have to wait for God to give him the next instructions for 14 years? It’s not quite the 40 years of Moses, but imagine Paul’s mind as he waits. Maybe this is why we’re not as much like Paul as we should be. We’re not insecure as he was. We think we’ll be OK. We think we’re living up to the standard. Paul was driven by his own weakness.

Number two, Paul hungered for righteousness. I don’t really care to watch the news and don’t get bothered by the big problematic events in the world. But a lot of people do, and I appreciate them. Because they are hungry for righteousness in this world and it’s not there. Paul was that way. Even before he became a Christian, he was mad about people messing up his world. Acts 9:1. But what really transformed Paul is when he realized he was part of the problem. What’s the problem with the world? Who’s ruining our country? Who is the reason you are so unhappy, insecure, live in a miserable world? If the answer does not include yourself, you share Paul’s self-righteousness, Phil 3:4-6. But once Paul realized he was part of the problem, tremendous faith emerged. He still kept his zeal to hurt and kill, but turned it towards sin. Acts 17:16, 2 Cor 12:20-21, Titus 1:10-16. But realizing the problem was sin and not Christians made him hate it, In the world, Acts 17:16. In himself, Romans 7:15-20. And in other people, although he didn’t hate them like before, Phil 3:18, And he started trying to persuade people rather than destroy or coerce, 2 Cor 10:3-5, 2 Cor 7:8-9. Maybe we’re forgetting that people aren’t our enemy. It’s sin and unrighteousness that we need to be aiming to destroy.

Number three, Paul loved people. Rom 9:1, 2 Corinthians 5:20

Paul was special for the same reasons we are special to the Lord. Because he had a heart for God. It wasn’t about his talents, it was his meekness, his hunger for righteousness and his love that made him the great Paul the apostle. And those are the same qualities that will drive us as well. I wonder how someone like Paul can be so insecure before God and we can be doing so little. How he could be so zealous for righteousness and we blame everyone and everything else. How he could fear souls and we ignore them.

Tonight is the final lesson looking at issues that are causing division among some brethren today, And the focus is on if we should be adamant about our brethren keeping all of the laws, or if our focus should be on the two greatest commands: Matthew 22:34-37.

2000 years ago, the Jewish Talmud calculated there to be 613 total Old Testament commands. 365 of those were “Thou Shall Nots ” – equaling the number of days in a year. 248 were positive commands, equating to the number of bones in the human body. More recently, Christian Assemblies International counted the number of laws in the New Testament and determined there were – go ahead and guess in your head –

1050. Surprising, isn’t it? Some people think it’s ridiculous to think about Jesus as a set of 1050 laws, And the reaction is to care less about law and more about grace. What is the truth? Let’s continue our study tonight about the ideas behind the pamphlet “Free in Christ,”

And I want to start by reminding about what we talked about the last two weeks. First, we’ve got to talk about the church of Christ properly. It is all of the saved of all time, dead or alive, local or international. We should not talk about the church of Christ as something that can drift, or shrink, or move away from God because that is impossible and implies that we see the Church of Christ as a collection of churches calling themselves the “Church of Christ.” Second, unity in truth is a worthy goal, and that’s what we should be working towards, not unity by tolerating error. Yes, we will always disagree about things. But just because it leads to arguments and misbehavior does not mean we should de-emphasize the pursuit of truth. Some churches have stopped emphasizing baptism because people argue about it. So let’s just forget about baptism and focus on where we do agree.” We can’t do that! Our goal is to understand Christ completely, Ephesians 4:13ff. Now we can still get along with each other until we’re there, but it’s a mistake to minimize truth to get along with people.

Today we’re looking at another idea that is dividing Christians: The Letter of the Law versus the Spirit of the Law. Here’s what Cecil Hook says: Why do we have so many commands and directives from God? Does He have some kind of divinely selfish interest that is fulfilled by His burdening us with requirements and restrictions? Does He have an ego problem which would cause Him to demand, “You people on earth, I command you to sing praises to me”? The legislators of Texas passed a law that each automobile licensed in the state must have an inspection sticker on the driver’s side of the windshield. They made that law because some of us are careless about keeping our cars in safe operating condition. The law is for the good of the owner of the car and for the others who might be jeopardized by its operation. So the law is for the good of all concerned. Suppose that our legislators should pass another law requiring a green star sticker on the passenger side of the windshield. They explain the purpose of this law: “We made this law just to let you know that we have the authority to legislate. We want you to get this sticker simply because we say for you to get it.” That would be an arbitrary, despotic law. And after the next election, there would be some new faces in the legislature! Law must originate from authority in order to have validity; yet just laws are not arbitrary expressions of authority. So, great point by brother Hook, and we talked about this in Bible class this morning – Law should lead us to Christ. It is discouraging to see brethren loving rules more than they love God. “Oh, you can’t do that. Why? Well, because you just can’t. Why? Well, because we’ve never done it that way.” Or: “So what did that verse say? Well brother, it means what it says, and it says what it means.” Ever heard that one? And that’s it! There’s no depth there, no desire to understand. If that’s the rule, then that’s the rule and what more do we need to know? I agree with Brother Hook that this is a problem. And we must believe that God has a reason for each command, and we ought to be learning more about God from the commands. When I ask the kids to clean their rooms to finish their homework, it’s not because I want to see how much power I have. It’s because I want to help them grow. I don’t simply enjoy telling them what to do.

God tells us that His laws are designed to teach us two things; How to love Him, and how to love each other. Brother Hook goes on to say that the principle is greater than the command. Yes, that’s true. And that’s why Jesus taught that sometimes the greater love is to override certain commands. Jesus healed on the Sabbath and made this point, Luke 13:13-16. We should also be able to figure out that certain things are wrong without God telling us specifically, too. Like if our attitude was always “Where does it say I can’t?” Have a beer? Watch rated R movies?” God gave us the principles and we can extrapolate sometimes.

So we need to be using God’s Law to understand Him and His love, rather than seeing it as a list of 1,050 to-do list and to-don’t list items. However, probably one area where I think some brethren miss is that sometimes we do just need to obey God even when we don’t understand the principle behind it. We could take a couple of approaches when we don’t see the point of a law – “There’s no reason for that law, so I’m not going to follow it” Or “I don’t know why God asked but I’m going to do it anyway.” Which one do you believe is right? Let me explain why we still need to dutifully obey God’s rules even when we can’t connect them to principle: It’s because we’re still sinners! We’re still defective at love! We’re lawbreakers. We’re blind. Paul wrote to Timothy that: 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Timothy 1:9) That’s us! We won’t get all of it until our hearts have been perfected. And that law that seems unloving to us is still all about love even if we can’t see it. I can give an easy example, Leviticus 20:13. Well, that doesn’t sound very loving, said the person who lacks in the love of God. Some brethren are leaving because they feel the rest of us are too legalistic to demand that we follow all of the laws, even the ones we don’t fully understand. Cecil Hook uses the example of the Lord’s supper. He says the point of the Lord’s supper is that we focus on the atonement of Christ, so all of the little details don’t matter as long as we’ve got our mind on him. Here’s what he says: All that we have been covering in this lesson can be illustrated very well in regard to the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” This is no arbitrary command. It has a purpose. The purpose is not to flatter Jesus or to take a census of the faithful. It is to keep the atonement, the basis for our hope, ever fresh in our minds. We eat it, not to fulfill a command or for a sacramental grace that it might impart, but to strengthen and express our faith in the atonement. In so doing, we show forth His death till He come and we discern the oneness of the body. If its purpose is to make us think on the atonement, then what difference does it make at what hour or on what day we do it, or if we do it twice on a day or several times weekly? What is the concern about whether the cup be fresh or fermented, or whether the bread be leavened or unleavened? How could sequence be of importance — whether we break the bread before or after the prayer, whether the bread be taken before the cup, or whether they both be served at the same time? Such details have nothing to do with the purpose of participation. If a person derives the benefit of this remembrance on Wednesday instead of Sunday, does it suddenly become a curse instead of a blessing? So what difference does it make that there’s a certain way God wants us to do the Lord’s supper? Day, order, elements? I think it makes a difference because there’s a certain way the apostles showed how to do it. And this is where I believe Brother Hook has left truth. He’s saying, “The Lord’s supper is about atonement. So think about atonement and the rest doesn’t matter! Take it on a Tuesday night with unleavened bread, take a glass of Sherry wine first. Jesus doesn’t care! Once you’ve figured out the principle you’re free to do it however you want! No. There’s a serious problem with that. The problem is that we are assuming that we now see as God sees. Sometimes when we study about the qualifications of elders Christians think they know exactly the reason for the qualification. Like what if I said, “OK, God, I get it. I know why you said an elder had to be married. It’s because married men live longer, statistically, and you don’t want a guy serving for just a couple of years. So what we did is that we gave all our men genetic tests and picked the ones that were most likely to outlast us. So you won’t mind if I make some tweeks here and there to the elder rules, sticking to the principle of course.” Those laws teach us! When we follow them we learn things. We never outgrow God’s law. Read 1 John 2:7-11 again. John says, “Here’s the old law again that you need to practice – love your brother. But it’s also new for you. Because when you obey that law you grow inside. You change and get renewed.” If God saw fit to put little details into His laws, they’re important even if we don’t know why. Parents get this. We know that our kids aren’t always going to understand why we’re telling them to do something. They just need to do it. They’ll thank us later, right? Or hate us the rest of their lives, whatever. And what about times when God called men and women to obey without connecting the obedience to a principle? Acts 8:26. How about Leviticus 4:4-6, 8-11. You gonna do it or not? Was there a point to all of that? Yes! Romans 8:28. Sometimes you do first and then know.

Should we discuss and wrangle about the small details of the law? Brother Hook thinks that’s ridiculous: Our immaturity has been evident. We often search earth and heaven to find all the legal requirements and limitations. We discuss, wrangle, debate, judge, and censor to the point of alienating and dividing while missing the principle that God had in mind. Often where authoritative specifications have been lacking, we have formulated our own by specious logic. And, in case all else fails, we have devised elder authority to define and bind lawful specifications. That is the ultimate legalism. Such an approach will keep us confused, enslaved, and divided. No, we should not miss the principle that God has in mind, but yes we should carefully obey the laws even before we get the principle. “Noah, go build an ark.” Why? Because there’s a flood coming. OK, I get the principle, I’ll do it. Build it 450 feet long. Why? That’ll be a good size for all of the animals. OK, I’ll do it. Build it with a window and a door. Just one? Why? Just do it. I won’t unless I know why. I just don’t believe it’s legalistic to obey God without understanding. But I suppose Christians who don’t care to try and understand, they would fit into that category to me.

Last week we started a conversation about divisions among churches similar to ours and why they exist and what we can do about it. Tonight I’d like to continue the conversation looking at what is happening today and why some brethren are becoming discontented by “Churches of Christ” – and we’re going to talk about that phrase as well. Like many of you I was raised in a Church of Christ. And I remember having problems with what brethren have believed in those churches from a young age. Some brethren seemed so conservative that everything to them was wrong. And they seemed so close-minded. And then others seemed just the opposite – they didn’t have a problem with anything anybody did. Our best song leader had a much looser view of Bible authority than most of the rest. He was fine with churches doing anything - parties, blood drives, do whatever you want. When we moved to Birmingham for the second time, we learned that a large handful of Christian brothers and sisters, some of them our friends, were leaving their churches because they are discontent. They didn’t like what other brethren were believing and looked at them as close-minded, inconsistent judgemental graceless Pharisees. I believe what really was going on was they struggled to love their brethren and help them better see the truth. They just wanted to hate on them and leave. And then these brethren started leaving those churches and created something that was a reaction to the problems they saw, and so they not only left the brethren with their flaws but they also left the truth their brethren did have and tried to come up with something better.

And there was a book that influenced many of them, and I want to show some of it to you because I think it represents an attitude that’s causing divisions today in some places. It’s called “Free in Christ” by Cecil Hook. Some of the points in the book are important and I agree with them, But its solutions fail to fix the problems and go in the wrong direction.

I’m going to read you a section from the booklet and then comment on it, starting from the very beginning. READ. So what does the author think of his brethren who are overy traditionalistic? They sound like rotten people. They’re still asleep; they’re rigid resisters; frightened, shaken, agitated; legalistic; foolish; sectarian; absurd; hair-splitters; contentious; judgmental; censoring; immature; wrong; guardians of the faith who garnish the tomb of Alexander Campbell. Lots of name-calling. “If you can’t see the truth that I’m about to enlighten you with, you’re probably just a big dummy. I don’t want to be any of those things, do you? I might just go along with his message so people don’t call me names. I know there are some brethren who view me as close-minded and ignorant with probably a tiny mind. Back in Portland, years before Laura and I had moved there, a handful of members became discontent with the auditorium class and wanted a class of their own. Guess what they called it? The Deep Thinkers class. Which class would you attend – the deep thinkers class or the shallow dumb people’s class that’s meeting in the auditorium? I don’t know this guy, Cecil Hook. But I don’t think the approach to winning people should be to make them feel dumb. I think you just teach truth in love. That should be enough.

The second thing I noticed, and this is where we’ll spend the rest of our time tonight, is the way he used the phrase “Church of Christ” – “The Church of Christ is in a time of reevaluation.” Is it really?

Here’s one of the problems that took me years to try and figure out as I have listened to brethren from childhood. There’s a tendency to talk about the church of Christ incorrectly. And it leads to a lot of problems. Do you know what the church of Christ is? Jesus said Matthew 16:18. The Hebrew writer spoke of 12:23-24. What is the church of Christ? It’s Jesus and His people. Now who are those people. Well, a lot of them are dead, aren’t they. And then the living ones are spread out over the entire cube/globe. Some are in America and Africa. Do you think someone could have found a Bible somewhere in Asia or Africa and read it and obeyed it and became a Christian all by himself? Well, s/he’s part of the church of Christ. Could there be a group of Christians somewhere who are studying and working to please God in all of the right ways, but they’re in a house in Iran? Or maybe some Christians in Zimbabwe put up a sign that says, “The Church of God in Harare” – 1 Cor 1:1. I would hope so. Christians are the church of Christ, wherever they are. Jesus’ people. Now do you think Jesus’ Church is in a time of reevaluation? Like Jesus is going, “You know, we may need to rethink some things.” There is nothing wrong with the church of Christ, and there never has been, if we understand what it is correctly. See that’s not what this booklet means by “Church of Christ.” What he’s talking about is a concept that’s not even found in the Bible. But it’s how many of us use this phrase, and we really should not. He’s talking about all those churches that say “Church of Christ” on them. He’s talking about churches that see themselves as being part of a group of churches all over the United States and in some other countries that is known as the Church of Christ. Like there’s Baptists, there’s Methodists and there’s Church of Christ. He’s talking about the church of Christ denomination. And that’s not the Church of Christ, is it? The church of Christ is all of the saved, wherever they are, wherever the are in the world, whether they are dead or alive. We need to quit talking about the “Church of Christ” like it’s a bunch of churches with signs on them that say “Church of Christ.” Because if we do that, we’ll have problems like this book. And we’ll start worrying that the Church of Christ is drifting. Or that it’s full of hypocrites or liberalism or whatever. The Church of Christ is perfect, period.

Now besides the Church of Christ, all of the saved of all time, We also use the word church to describe local groups of Christians. And each church stands on its own. The book of Revelation addresses individual churches along with their strengths and weaknesses. And God says if some of them don’t get it together he’ll remove their lampstand. I don’t believe it’s healthy to think of all churches of Christ as the big C Church Christ and then talk about it as though it’s drifting or failing in some way. Because that’s not how the Lord does it. Churches in Ephesus, Thyatira, Philadelphia. We might not have chosen to worship at some of the Biblical churches, for good reason. Would you have placed membership in Corinth? Ephesus? Pergamum (teaching of Balaam)? Thyatira (Jezebel)? There are many churches in the city of Springville. I’m going to be honest. I probably couldn’t be a member at most of them. I don’t believe they’re doing right. But they can change whenever they want to. It’s not unheard of. They don’t have to obey any director or supervisor in some other state somewhere if they don’t want to. They each stand on their own.

And I just got to page one of this pamphlet. There’s so much more to talk about, and I will continue next week. Where we’ll dive into a major criticism that discontented Christians level towards their brethren – legalism.

Numbers 22:20-28. I’d like you to notice in the story of Balaam that God was providing the talking donkey to him as a means of sparing his life. It was a gift of rebuke to Balaam. It’s so interesting that God sent an angel to kill Balaam, but also sent the donkey to keep him from getting killed by the angel. Around the holidays lots of groups make gift baskets or lists to have gifts on hand to give to the needy, which is a great idea. But nobody ever thinks, “You know what would be a great present to give somebody this year? A good, strong rebuke! What would you think of that? Probably not, because it would be a painful gift. But it’s probably one of the most needed gifts that’s out there. Jesus once said there are more important things than giving charity to the poor. John 12:1-8. Maybe if we can twist our thinking a little bit we can understand the need for this gift and feel like we’re helping people by providing it rather than fearing it.

Rebuking is a gift. Proverbs 27:6 says . . . Proverbs 27:6 And it may be one of the costliest gifts we can give to somebody. Because we risk losing their friendship to provide for them and we bring great pain upon ourselves. Let me show you that rebuke is a way of providing five gifts to somebody that they may not be able to receive through physical things.

First, rebuke is the gift of honesty. Proverbs 27:5.

I think my preference is, “Hey! It’s so good to see you! I’ve been missing you!” Instead of what’s going on? How’s your faith, haven’t seen you in a while. It’s easier to just send them a Christmas card, maybe they’ll get the hint that they need to start living right! Or even better just never say anything so they’ll know we care about them. Unfortunately for us, God has these books. Everything we do goes into our permanent record, and it’s going to be opened on the last day, Revelation 20:12. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. And if we hate somebody so much that we can’t be open with them, I’m pretty sure it’s going to go in our book. Let’s give people the gift of honesty.

Second, a rebuke is sustenance for a starving man.

Now I’m not sure this verse connects to the previous two. Proverbs 27:5-6. Better is open rebuke than hidden love. 6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. But it would make sense that a person who knows they’re doing wrong gets tired of people lying to them in kindness. It’s got to be miserable enough already knowing that what you’re doing displeases the Creator and Judge of the universe. And they already have so many people in their life supporting their bad behavior, doting over them. I have a friend on Facebook who left her husband for another man. She posts pictures with the new guy, and her friends fawn over the pictures, “You guys look so cute together!” Plenty of people will support us in our sin, but I doubt it feels very good. But then someone comes along and offers something of true substance – a rebuke. A thousand people are being supportive or silent, and ONE offers a rebuke. Which one affects the heart? Which one will mean more. Bitterness is sweet to those who are hungry.

Rebuke gives people honesty. It gives a starving soul sustenance. And it gives all of us the edge we need in the form of fear.

1 Timothy 5:20.

Fear is a great motivator. Good football teams play better when they’re in trouble towards the end of the game. You can expect they’re going to make a hard run at you like you haven’t seen so far in the game. I remember when my Chargers were beating Peyton Manning and the Broncos 21-3 a few years ago in the fourth quarter, and so I knew we were in trouble. Why? We need to have that culture of rebuke in this church, because we all need to see it and fear. We all sin, there’s no sense in denying it or putting anybody down because of it, but it’s still unacceptable, and we need to call each other on it. It’s a great blessing for a church to have that sense of accountability. It’ll help us succeed in our work. And I don’t mean to say it’s more important that encouragement, Hebrews 10:24-25. But it’s certainly just as important.

Number 4. Rebuke is a way for us to handle our own wrath and anger. Rather than lash out, we talk to them about the problem. Leviticus 19 commanded the Jews:

Leviticus 19:17-18.

So what do you do when you’re really mad at someone? At a family member? When your sister creates a serious problem for you? When your friend is messing up his life and yours too and you’re angry at them? Go reprove them. Go talk to them before you do something YOU regret. Because you’re only going to get madder, and not talking about it in a healthy way is going to lead to bad decisions on your part. Don’t hold grudges, don’t withhold forgiveness, just go talk to them. I’ll never know how my friend Ken Kelly was able to go visit and talk to the drunk driver who killed his wife. I imagine that was very painful for him. Would you have done it? Can you imagine a better gift he could have given her? Was there anything more costly or more kind that he could have done? It’s no wonder she obeyed the gospel afterward.

Last, rebuke can give somebody the greatest gift of all, the gift of salvation. We already talked about the fact that God sent an angel to kill Balaam for his disobedience. But then also, to protect Balaam from the angel, God allowed a donkey to protect him and rebuke him. If it wasn’t for that donkey, Balaam would have been dead. So God was very generous to provide it. It saved him. But don’t forget about what a rebuke did for Simon the Sorcerer in the New Testament. His sin was getting the best of him. He had seen the power that the Holy Spirit provided to the apostles to do miracles, And he wanted that power. He was willing to spend whatever it took to get it. But thankfully for Simon, the one he asked was Peter, who was not afraid to tell it like it is. Acts 8:20-23. The great thing about the story is that Simon responded. Acts 8:24. And I think there’s a very good chance that we’ll see Simon again someday with God in heaven.

I think the evidence indicates that giving people money and gifts is a kind and wonderful thing, but it’s not the greatest gifts. People need the rebuke, too. That’s the hard gift. That’s the one that makes us feel bad, it makes somebody else feel bad, it’s a huge risk because it could put a rift in a relationship, it’s costly. So it’s the most generous gift. And we can’t neglect to give it. We have to, because that’s what people need here. They’re starving for it. One of the first rebukes in the Bible happened in Sodom, when Lot’s family was attacked by the people of that city. He was a good man, and was tormented by their wickedness (2 Peter 2), and it wasn’t fair that he had to rebuke them and make his life even more miserable in the process. But who else was going to do it? You have to do it. Because other people probably won’t. Your brethren might not even do it. And somebody needs to hear what you have to say. It doesn’t matter if you’re the lesser person than them because of your own personal sin. You have to do it. I think about the time when Abraham was rebuked by Pharaoh. Abraham needed to hear it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman and a man needs to be rebuked. I remember when Sarah had to rebuke Abraham. And it doesn’t matter if you’re just as sinful as them. I remember one time when a thief on Jesus’ right hand rebuked the thief on His left hand. The man needed to hear the rebuke. Everybody has a plank in their eye. You can still offer a humble rebuke. That thief had one but Jesus honored Him for speaking out. Will you offer the silver and gold but not the rebuke? God wants to know. Acts 2:38.

Good morning.

If I had to choose one passage that represents the gospel message, I might go with Ephesians 2:8-10, which says . . . In this scripture you have the message of God’s grace, Which is given to the faithful, Who don’t earn it in any way, And then are molded into something special, sanctified and glorified.

This is the message of the Bible. And the important part of it for us is that God’s salvation comes by faith. That is what we need to make sure we have. And we’re not going to get salvation any other way. There are going to be some very righteously disciplined people who will be lost even though they maybe did more than the faithful, reading more, praying more, and still lost. Because it’s faith that saves. Which leads to a very important question for us to discuss this morning. How do we know if we truly have saving faith?

I don’t think it’s so easy to answer. It’s hard to define even what saving faith is. I’ve talked before about how difficult Biblical love is to define. God has to use a whole chapter to explain it to us in 1 Corinthians 13. And I believe faith is the same. Certainly it’s more than belief in God, because James 2:19 says . . . You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. Also, faith is not obedience, because Hebrews 11 says . . . 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. They obeyed BY faith, it wasn’t faith. James 2:22 says faith is perfected by our works. But works is not faith. So if we’re going to know whether or not we have saving faith, we’ll need to take a look at the Bible people who had it and compare ourselves to them to see. Which is why God gave us Hebrews chapter 11. It’s filled with examples of what faith looks like, and I would like you to read the stories of some of the faithful there and discover whether or not saving faith is inside of you.

Starting in verse 4. Read. Abel’s faith is seen in the better sacrifice that he offered compared to Cain. People who have Biblical faith strive to give God their best. Do we have a drive within us to always do better for God? Or does it frustrate us that He wants to take so much from us? I remember being about 10 years old and my mom gave us kids some money to go Christmas shopping. I remember quickly getting overwhelmed by the process and finding a move in the movie bin, it must have been a VHS tape, and buying it and wrapping it for the entire family and putting it under the tree. I remember how disappointed they were and getting a rebuke from my mom for giving such a thoughtless gift. People with true faith are offering better sacrifices to God.

People of faith follow the instructions. 11:7. In Noah’s case, he had to build a huge boat. 450 feet. I don’t fully understand this. God didn’t need for Noah to build a boat. God could have saved him without making him do all that work. But it doesn’t matter. The Lord had His reasons for asking, Noah just needed to do it. And he did, because he was a man of faith. People of faith follow the instructions. They know what the Bible says and they do it. They know about how salvation works, Acts 2:38, They know what kind of person they need to be as a Christian and are doing it – forgiving, being meek, overcoming lust, being a light to the world. Their fear and reverence makes them careful. And if were’ not worried about the details of obedience, that’s not a good sign.

A sign that we have this faith is we step out of our comfort zone. Hebrews 11:8ff. When we obey God not knowing where it will lead, or even when the command seems to take us somewhere unpleasant, that’s good! Faith is in us. Go take a chance! Go talk to somebody, break a hard habit, do something uncomfortable, prove that this faith is inside of you!

Faith is feeling unsettled on this world. 11:9-16. We’re not content here. We don’t feel at home. We’re never going to find happiness here because our faith tells us it’s not here. It’s interesting that this is spoken of in the context of Abraham. Abraham was promised Gen 12:1-3. And so he left home at 75 seemingly to go get those promises. But he was not motivated by some land and the Fatherhood of many nations - he was disillusioned by the world. He went because God told him to. But he never felt like he would find anything in the world but discontent.

Faith always believes that God has a way. 11:17-19. Faithless people are the ones who say, “I can’t, there’s no way, it’s impossible.” But Abraham always figured things were going to work out. That’s why he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. He just figured God would bring him right back. Even if he killed him it was going to work out. God would figure out a way for Isaac to still love Abraham and bring him back better than before. Faith never sees present problems as hopeless things. The ones who are optimistic are the ones who have true, saving faith.

In Jacob we learn that faith is hopeful and optimistic. 11:21-22. Faith expects that God will win and is certain that things are going His way.

And then faith isn’t afraid of the powerful people who make rules that oppose God. 11:23.

Faith makes us more excited for heaven than for life’s pleasures. 11:24-26. People who don’t have faith envy people who get the winning lottery ticket or who are wealthy or celebrities. But the faithful know that stuff isn’t worth it. We all get enticed sometimes, 1 John 1:8, But ultimately we hate sin and can’t wait for God to destroy it and we’re more sorry than envious of people who are caught up in it.

Faith follows God’s safeguards. 11:28 The Bible is full of sayings about what to do to avoid trouble and death, like obey parents, flee sexual immorality, don’t look at the wine cup when it’s red. We’re scared of the death angel. Faith trusts God’s power. 11:29. Would you have been scared walking through two walls of water and you don’t know what’s holding them up? If you’re not so confident that you’re saved, maybe it’s because you don’t trust God’s power. Because He says that He forgave you. But you’re looking at yourself and your own failures, which is the problem. Look to God’s power. And then finally saving faith follows God’s unusual instructions for victory, and if he says march around 7 times and blow the trumpet, that’s what we’ll do. 11:30. I don’t know why God wanted to win that way. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Lot’s of things that God says for us to do simply require trust because He’s not always explaining everything to us. But faithful people trust God’s saving instructions.

These are the kind of people what God wants to save. They are the ones who . . . These are the faithful, and if we have these qualities then we can be confident we are among the saved too. And do we have to have a perfect faith to be saved? Of course not.

It can be the size of a mustard seed.

Peter’s faith was little when he walked on the water. Matthew 14:30-31

I love this picture.

It’s OK if our faith is not perfected. It will always have room to grow. Thess 1:3.

I’m thankful that God recognizes I have gaps in my faith and obedience but works with us and brings us along. He disciplines us rather than destroys us, Hebrews 12. And He’s not looking for perfect faith in us, He’s just looking for the right kind. Is it in you? Be careful not to measure your salvation by works. I went to all the services this week, took the Lord’s supper, check, was cordial to people, didn’t cuss or drink this week. We cannot be saved like that. If we’re measuring ourselves by our works, then we are still just as guilty as everyone else in the world, we’re people who can never be good enough. Let’s measure ourselves by the example of Hebrews 11 and make sure that our faith looks like theirs. If you have that faith and are ready for your next step, the Bible says Acts 22:16.

1 Timothy 1:18-19.

1 Timothy 6:20-21. Timothy was entrusted by God with something important. What has God entrusted to us?

I love when God’s people want to get involved in his work. Sometimes I’m asked b people what they can do and I really appreciate that. I’m thankful that Clint has that spirit and jumps in where he’s needed. I’m thankful that Brett has done so much here with this church and I’m proud of that. And Harold is always staying busy. And Laura and Leslie have done so much for our classes and others are always stepping up when needed. Those who want to please God are always looking for something to do. Some work around the church building. Writing cards or visiting the sick or encouraging a weaker brother. Those are all things we should be doing. But when Paul encourages Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to your care, he’s referring to something more, something on another level that was entrusted to him and to us.

Literally the verse says, “Guard the deposit.” Which is the idea of keeping money safe, or treasure or valuables. Whatever He gave us to protect, whatever God thought we were trustworthy enough to care for, protect it.

Timothy was asked four times by Paul to guard what was entrusted to him. Take a look: 1 Timothy 1:18 1 Timothy 6:20 2 Timothy 1:12-14 2 Timothy 2:2 So what is this? Guard what? Whatever it is, it must be something really important, so he must not let anything happen to it. When I was in High School, we each had a project where we were required to make egg babies – we had to take a chicken egg, hollow it out and paint a baby face and body on it. And we had to carry around with us everywhere we went for a week. To teach us about the responsibility of caring for a baby. If you dropped it, you had a write a really long paper instead, so nobody wanted to crack it. So the first day, I had my egg baby in class with me, in a basket, on the ground right next to my desk. And somebody stepped on it. And I remember it in slow motion, the egg flying down the aisle and hitting the ground, and the whole class hushed because they knew exactly what just happened. So obviously I never should have been a father. When we’re entrusted with something, we have to take care of it like it’s our own child.

Stewardship, 1 Cor 9:17 Gospel, Gal 2:7 The task of preaching, Titus 1:3 So I don’t think he’s talking here about finding some small way to serve God. Our work is big.

There are lots of things that the Bible says were entrusted to us that indicate God really trusts His people with important tasks. Things like: Talents, Matt 25:20

Oracles of God, Rom 3:2

A stewardship, 1 Corinthians 9:17

Gospel, Galatians 2:7

Preaching, Titus 1:3

So I don’t think he’s talking here about finding some small way to serve God. Our work is big.

I want to show you something that the Lord said about you. It’s a prophecy he made a long time ago well before any of us were born to talk about what we are going to do in our lifetimes. Just like Jesus had prophecies about Him, The Lord made one for us. And the prophecy said that you’re gonna do great things, too: Isaiah 61:1-2. That’s the Lord, right? That’s what He’s going to do. Now read the next verse. Isaiah 61:3. And that’s us. He’ll turning our mourning into rejoicing,

And He heals us and plants us and causes our roots to grow deep and base broad and strong. And now look at the next verse. Isaiah 61:4. What do God’s people do? They rebuild what was lost. Before the world became devastated by sin. That’s the work God has entrusted to us. We’re the hope and holiness and righteousness that the world sees. Isaiah 61:9 says . . . That’s us again. We’re the descendants of the original oaks. The world sees us as the ambassadors of the Lord. So that’s our purpose, from something that was prophesied 2700 years ago. The world needs us. And when you start getting down and thinking you’re useless and you need to find something to do for the Lord, remember what you mean to the world, And remember that God has entrusted something great to you.

It struck me when reading 1 Timothy chapter 1 that Timothy had a prophecy, and Paul uses it like I’m trying to use Isaiah 61 this morning, to encourage him. And first before reminding Timothy of his prophecy, Paul begins by recalling the prophecy made concerning himself: 1 Timothy 1:12-17. It must be awesome to think that God had a plan for you all along, that Jesus had been watching Paul and biding his time, knowing that when Paul was ready he would accomplish a great task. And Paul emphasizes that it was motivating for him. And then Timothy also had a prophecy to look back on to get motivated, as Paul says in verse 18, ESV: This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. Remember your prophesy and let it motivate you. And I say the same thing to you: Remember your prophecy, when God called you the Oaks of Righteousness, and go renew the world. They need you. You’ve been entrusted with what they need.

Timothy was actually entrusted with a number of tasks in this letter: Combat false doctrine Keep faith and good conscience Teach Appoint elders Be an example, be respected, 4:12 The pursuits of 6:11

But it all adds up to bringing the peace of the Gospel of God into the lives of the people of the world. So you don’t need to find your niche, your ministry. You’re not the waterboy of the church, the benchwarmer. You’re one of the Oaks of Righteousness With an ancient prophecy to fulfill. With a calling to fulfill, 1 Corinthians 7:17-20. Let’s remember the important work that God has entrusted to us as we leave here this morning.

1 Timothy 1:15-16. Paul says there’s just one purpose that he has since God rescued him – To become the canvas for God’s patience. Let’s explore this purpose for ourselves this afternoon, trying to understand how we can be an advertisement of God’s goodness and kindness to us in the world.

In a way we are God’s art. People in the world don’t go into God’s house, but they do see us. We’re like God’s decore. How would you expect to see God’s walls and rooms and halls decorated if you could literally go into His house? Just take a look around in your imagination for a moment. Is it lavish? Or humble? Look at the lights. And the furniture. And the pictures on the wall. What kind of pictures are displayed? All of those decorations, in a way, are us. We represent God and His house, so it’s important that we present ourselves properly.

And 1 Timothy offers several examples of what we need to show people. Like being an image of God’s patience.

1 Timothy 1:15-16. People need to see us and find the Lord’s great patience. So how do we display God’s patience? How did Paul display God’s patience? It seems he did so by being a bad person before coming to the Lord. By being an enemy of God, but then being won over by the love of God.

For us to be an image of God’s patience, people need to know how far we’ve come. That means they need to know that we were selfish and foolish and separated from God, but that God has loved us and patiently worked with us to get us this far. All of us should be able to look back on ourselves in the past and see somebody who was ignorant and had a long way to go. And so all of us can glorify God’s patience with us as we tried to figure things out along the way.

Another thing we display is good works, as Paul told the women in chapter 2, 1 Timothy 2:9-10. We need to put on our work clothes, the clothes that are more conducive to getting things done in. Women are to dress to display godliness. They adorn themselves with good works rather than with a look that puts the focus on themselves.

And then take a look at one other example in chapter 4 of being God’s canopy.

1 Timothy 4:12. So what are we displaying here? We are being an image of how God’s people should talk and act, And we need to be a picture of love, And absolute faith, And innocence.

And there are many other examples throughout the scripture of the images we’re to portray as God’s people outside of Timothy, like . . . The power of God, Romans 9:17, God’s perfect kindness, Ephesians 2:7, Honesty in Titus 2:10 And diligence in Hebrews 6:11. So we’ve got to find a way to be walking billboards for the character of God.

But one difficulty in us trying to be God’s artwork is that we’re also not to be showoffs. That’s what got the Pharisees into trouble. So how can we display God’s glory without trying to display God’s glory?

Jesus said in Matthew 6:3-4. I think sometimes Christians try to hard to look righteous to the people around them and come off as holier-than-thou.

Have you ever heard of the humblebrag? It’s when a person brags while pretending that they’re not bragging.

Like . . .

Or . . . But we can all be guilty of this. Facebooking about how dark it is when we get up at 5 AM for our Bible study or to train for the 5K, Or how much of a burden it is to take 6 kids in our car on a trip to the honors science competition. I think Christians say things like this as their way to be an example of doing the right thing, and that’s not the right way to do it.

We need to be careful not to announce when we do things. Jesus said concerning fasting, Matthew 6:16-18. It doesn’t glorify God to let everybody know that you’re depriving yourself for God. People don’t say, “Wow, you’re fasting? God’s so good to you!” They say, “Wow, you’re so holy! Your fasting!”

Jesus also mentioned that we be careful not to use prayer for personal honor. Matthew 6:5-6. And when we give to other people, that’s not something we want to publicize.

So what is the key to displaying God in our lives without bringing honor to ourselves? Turn to 2 Corinthians 4, beginning in verse 7. It’s a verse we referenced this morning in Bible class. Here Paul is talking about the sufferings that he encountered while preaching the gospel, and he’s explaining why God would entrust mankind with such a powerful gift.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12. Why is it that people can look at us and be impressed not with our righteousness but with God’s power in us? Jeffrey taught me about people who buy junky cars and then try to make them look good on the outside. They’ll put spoilers on the back, and chrome and other features and none of it makes the car any better. It’s still a slow cheap car just dressed up a little. But then there’s the people who have an ugly old car but they do things to it internally like alter the airflow and do things with the headers and camshaft that I know nothing about, and then their care is still ugly but it’s doing things that it doesn’t look like it could do. When Paul writes to the Corinthians, he’s really not in the best of conditions. He’s been beaten and abused and hurt and struck down in so many ways, but none of it slows him down. He looks really bad on the outside and you wouldn’t think he could keep going after all that abuse, But he’s still out there preaching this beautiful message of hope and righteousness. I think this is how we are to display Christ in us. We surprise people by what we can do. We know that we’re jars of clay, everybody around us knows it, but we still never get crushed. We don’t despair. We cannot be destroyed; we never lose heart. And the older we get, the greater our hope becomes, and our love and faith and peace.

We do that, and our light will shine in such a way that they’ll see our good works but glorify God for them. How are you doing this? I would have given up a long time ago if I were you? I guess whatever God has done for me keeps me going. I probably would have given up if it weren’t for Him.

But if we’re gonna talk about what we do and what we know, and about our sacrifices and good works, then all we’re doing is displaying ourselves. We have to figure out how to be God’s canvas for displaying His glory, not our own. And that is a challenge. Are you a part of God’s household? If you are, your life is reflecting it. If it’s not, God will not tolerate it and He does remove the unworthy. But He is a loving Father and He awaits the repentant. If anyone needs to make right with their Heavenly Father this morning, please come forward. If you’re ready to give your life to Him this morning, come forward now, the water’s ready.

There is a parable that Jesus tells in Luke 18 teaching us that we ought to pray and not lose heart. And it made me wonder what if we don’t? What are the consequences are for not praying like we should? In the Muslim faith, people who don’t pray are among the worst sinners and receive severe punishment. There are five daily prayers for them besides the personal requests. And you have to do them: But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires; so they are going to meet evil - Except those who repent, believe and do righteousness; for those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged at all. -- Qur'an 19:59-60 O you who have believed, let not your wealth and your children divert you from remembrance of Allah. And whoever does that - then those are the losers. -- Qur'an 63:9 So woe to those who pray [But] who are heedless of their prayer -- Qur'an 107:4-5 How concerned should Christians be about falling short in our prayer lives?

So I was looking for scriptures that talk about the consequences of not praying. Like other passages explain consequences for other sins – lying gets you into the lake of fire in Revelation 20. You won’t inherit the kingdom of God for drunkenness and homosexuality in 1 Corinthians 6. But there’s not much about the consequences of missing prayer.

I found one occasion in the New Testament where the apostles were rebuked by Jesus for not praying, when they were in Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion. Luke 22:46 “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

And I found an occasion in the Old Testament where Israel was rebuked for not inquiring of the Lord one time, when they made peace with the Gibeonites against God’s will. Joshua 9:15.

And there was one other time when Samuel feared the consequences of ceasing to pray for God’s people, in 1 Samuel 12:23: 1 Samuel 12:23. And that’s pretty much it for the rebukes. Frankly, I expected to see more because it’s such an epidemic amongst the brethren. We don’t pray like we should.

But God doesn’t use fear and severity to persuade us to pray. “He who does not pray will be condemned.” This passage in Luke 18 is a good example of His gentleness around prayer. Jesus teaches us through a parable that men ought to pray and not lose heart, because: Luke 18:7. What do you get out of this exhortation? That God’s listening for us and cares about us.

Now what He does instead of promising severity for not praying is that He lays out throughout scripture all of the things that prayer does. So that’s how we’ll approach tonight’s lesson – what do we miss out on if we don’t pray? Because there’s gong to be a lot of thing that we’re not going to have. We saw this morning Jesus telling His apostles, concerning a demon that He had cast out with difficulty, that: Mark 9. The fact is that some things will only come into your life through constant communication with your Father. So let’s take a few minutes to imagine what our lives would be like if we don’t pray like we should.

Number one. If we don’t pray, we’re gonna be frustrated by our understanding of the scriptures, or we’re going to miss out on some of the wonderful things in them. Psalm 119:18. Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have such a strong understanding of scripture? It’s not just because some study more than others. That is important, Acts 17:11, 2 Timothy 2:15. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. But I think about Bible professors who devote their lives to studying this book, and don’t have a clue what it says. People who graduate for seminaries across the country who have so many different ideas of what’s in here. But then some uneducated farmer from Alabama picks it up and studies it and blows all of us away by his understanding. Some mother raising 6 kids reads it when she can and gets it. People who don’t pray like they should aren’t going to get this book like they should. Matthew 7:7. 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Number two, If we don’t pray, we not going to be very happy. John 16:24. Jesus was talking to his apostles when He said this, who were very sad because they just found out He was about to leave them. God’s not going to brow beat us into prayer, “You’d better pray or you’re a bunch of heathen Philistines!” But He’ll plead with us to seek joy. Just ask and I will give you joy. There’s not another way to find it. Whatever you think is missing from you joy, that’s not it. You don’t need to relax more, become less busy, reduce work stress, get along better with your loved ones, get better friends, get more sleep, lose some weight, exercise more or find a hobby. It’s people who don’t pray who are missing out on a fuller joy.

Number three, if we don’t pray, evil is going to capture us over and over again. Matthew 6:13. There are other things we need to do to fight evil: Like run away from it, 1 Peter 5:8 Or cut off things that cause us to stumble, Matthew 5:30 But the people who are out there praying like they should have found a way to stay out of trouble beyond the rest of us. Psalm 31:1-9. Maybe the reason we’re always getting into trouble is because our prayer life falls short.

Here’s a fourth thing that we miss out on without prayer: People who don’t pray constantly stress out about life. Philippians 4:6-7. You’re not stressed out to the max? You’re not full of worry? Well, God’s not going to shame us into praying, but He is going to lay out all of the blessings that He has made available through prayer, and it’s all of those things that we covet the most.

And then number 5, If we don’t pray, there’s going to be less workers going out to save souls. Luke 10:2. Where are they all? I don’t know all of the reasons why gospel meetings back 60 years ago were converting dozens of people a week, why so many people used to attend them, and churches were growing like crazy. I suspect it’s just a different time and different circumstances. But still, there seems to be a lot of workers that remain trapped in our prayers, and that is the only way to let them out. Luke 10:2.

Finally, if we don’t pray, our lost brothers and sisters have less of a chance. James 5:15-16. If I’m understanding this right, part of the reason that some of our brethren haven’t yet returned to the Lord is because we’re not praying like we should. Isn’t that what it says? They depend on us. We will have to go after them, James 5:19. And rebuke and reprove, 2 Timothy 4. But also they depend on our prayers.

So what happens when we don’t pray like we should? Well, God hasn’t responded to that problem in great wrath: But He does lay out the consequences. People who don’t pray miss out on knowledge of this book that only comes through asking. Their joy isn’t full, and they probably don’t even understand why. They’re captured over and over again by evil, and they’re frustrated and stuck. They’re stressed and worried about family and money and work and so many other things. Their brothers and sisters and friends and loved ones are missing out on spiritual workers reaching out to them to influence them, after their influence has gone as far as it could. And brethren who have left the Lord aren’t coming back.

I’m not sure why God has wrapped up so many blessings into the work of prayer. The best I can think is because He wants us to talk to Him and build that relationship together, and this is the incentive. Or maybe it just has to be this way, that our life is so dependent on our connection with God that constant communication is the only fix available. But I do know that if we don’t get busy praying, we’re going to have a hard time in this life and more people are going to be lost. Throughout history, men and women have been saved when they came to their senses and began to call upon the name of the Lord. I invite you to do that today, so that you don’t miss out on the love and mercy offered by your Creator. He offers a simple path to forgiveness, and a lifetime of discipleship.

Good morning. I think most of us know what the Bible says about how to become a Christian – A person needs to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, repent of their sins, make the good confession, and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. Today we are going to be talking about the importance of confession.

1 Timothy 6:12 reminds us how important that moment was in our commitment to being a Christian. 1 Timothy 6:12. Do you remember that moment? I do, a little. I was standing in water next to the preacher in front of a church of about 100 people, and the preacher asked me a question, and everybody was staring at me in anticipation, waiting for me to say something. And I said, “Yes.” That was it. That was my good confession. I’ll bet you did the same thing.

From the standpoint of what we actually say, there’s not much to it. The requirement is that we . . . Romans 10:9-10. But it’s not remarkable to see or hear.

But the scriptures do indicate that it is a powerfully important thing. It’s something that we cling to every moment and every day of our lives. Hebrews 4:14. So it’s something that we must honor and appreciate.

Do you know who was the first person in the Bible to make the good confession? You might be surprised to learn it was Jesus.

We learn this from 1 Timothy 6 verse 13, the verse right after Paul remembers Timothy’s confession. It was when Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, on the day of His death. 1 Timothy 6:13. He confessed Himself. This was a huge moment. When He finally chose to let the world know who He was. Do you want to see it?

Matthew 27:11. OK, so like ours, it wasn’t much on the words. “It is as you say.” In other words, yes. But it was a huge moment. Because throughout His life, that was a fact He wasn’t ready for people to know. Only a few every figured it out while Jesus was alive.

Nathaniel did in John 1.

The apostle Peter in Matthew 16.

And Martha, one of the people I love most in scripture, in John 11.

But it was a secret. They weren’t supposed to tell anyone. The Bible says in Matthew 16:20, Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. Occasionally a demon would reveal Jesus’ secret, and Jesus would tell them, “Be quiet!” But it wasn’t until Jesus was about to be killed that Jesus finally confessed to being the Son of God. And then after His death people all over the world began following suit.

I think it’s hard for us to imagine godly men like Timothy and Paul and Matthew before they were followers of Christ, when they didn’t know who the Son of God was. Can you picture that? Someone asks Peter, “Ever heard of Jesus?” Who? No, who’s that? How do you know He’s the Son of God? He did what? He said what? But slowly over time they learned more about Him and saw what He did and started getting more excited that maybe this is the one who is supposed to be coming and who’s the Savior. Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen in person? I remember as a younger person being in awe of certain preachers, probably more than I should have. Sports figures maybe? Musicians? You meet these people in person and talk to them and it’s so exciting – it’s them!

Our confession about Jesus should be like that, that we’re realizing He’s the Savior sent down from heaven, which is a real place with a real God. Confession in the Bible literally means “speaking the same Word,” or agreement. Jesus said He was the King, and we say, “I agree, you are the King.” This is the same word for “confession” that has to do with telling God about our sins.

We’re agreeing with God when we confess our sins. We’re saying, “Lord, I was wrong, and you are always right.” When we’re confessing our sins and when we’re confessing Jesus as Lord, it’s repentance because we’re changing. Laura likes heated blankets. I’ve never wanted one. I just like a nice heavy blanket and that’s it. When we went to her aunt’s house a while back, we slept in a bed with a heated blanket, but Laura could heat her side and I could not heat my side. So I’ve never understood what she sees in them, but she got one for Christmas this year, and maybe living in Colorado is changing my mind a little bit but I’m starting to feel like she was right about electric blankets. They feel good. Confession is realizing that somebody was right. I think about the movie the Matrix when everybody realized Neo was the one. That’s the idea of confession! Lord, I was foolish not to see it before, but I do need a Savior and it’s You!

Confession also aligns us with the faithful who came before us and their confession. We now speak the same word with them too. Now let’s look at some other parts of our confession that need to be present when we make it. Sometimes in our house, we have arguments, and then someone will say, “OK, you were right (but I still think I’m smarter, you just got lucky).” Well, that’s not the attitude of confession.

Hebrews 10:23 calls it the confession of our hope. It says . . . Hebrews 10:23. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Yes. OK, and do you believe that He can change your life? And give you peace? And be our champion against the evil in this world? And that we no longer need to fear death because He reigns with power? And that He has rescued us from sin? Confession is about believing who Jesus is and also what He does for us. That’s the attitude of confession.

Similarly, 2 Corinthians 9:13 calls it the confession of the gospel. 2 Corinthians 9:13. What does gospel mean? Good news. Again, it’s a hopeful confession.

Another part of the attitude of confession should be astonishment. We should confess our awe of Jesus. 1 Timothy 3:16 says . . . 1 Timothy 3:16. So let’s put this verse in other words: We saw Him in the flesh, He raised from the dead, He was watched by the angels as He ascended into the sky, And His fame spread among the nations, and the world believed in Him, And He’s sitting on a throne right now in heaven. And that’s our confession, and it’s mind-blowing what we’re believing is true.

Another ingredient of our confession is commitment, where we will we’ll cling to every day of our lives. Hebrews 4:14. Confession isn’t just what we believe, it’s how we’ll respond as well. Our lives are changed by it.

So what’s your confession about Jesus? If you had to come up here today, and tell us about it, what would you say? Would you talk about Him as the champion of mankind who fought His way through the devil and His demons to set his captives free? And led us out of sin, which is the message of Hebrews? Would you describe how life-changing it was for you to realize God came from heaven down to earth to communicate with us? Would you talk about the hope and the good news that He made possible? Would you confess His truthfulness, how His ways are always right and just and kind?

We need to be saying those things for our whole lives, since confession is a life-long thing. Let the many witnesses hear it. When was the last time you made it? Was it to your boss? “I can’t do that, You know I’m a Christian.” How about your family? “If you plan it during church, you know I can’t go. That’s my time to worship the Lord with His people.” Maybe it’s time to make the good confession this morning in the presence of many witnesses. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Then it’s time for you to reveal your faith. Come forward now, and we can baptize you into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

Genesis 1:14.

In just a few days we will be into 2022. I thought when I was a kid that by now we’d have flying cars at least, but I also couldn’t have imagined it would have come this fast. Time needs to be respected because it’s relentless and it was created by God to remind us that we are not in control. Genesis 1:14 tells us that He designed our solar system to be a clock. The sun and moon were designed to be our seasons, days and years. Genesis 1 teaches that God created the earth first, and then came the things that designate time. Genesis 1:14-16. The moon was also created here on the fourth day to give the earth days, signs and seasons. Part of creation was the calendar. And so of course man wants control over it. This morning we’re going to be talking about time. I want to show that man has tried to control it, and then conclude by talking about how God wants us to treat it.

So many things about our calendar today have the fingerprints of man all over it. And it’s obvious how bad we mess things up when we try to take charge of God’s things: So here’s our calendar. And one thing right off the bad that makes no sense is that we decide to make New Year’s in the dead of Winter. How does that make sense? Why not do what God did with Israel when He chose to free Israel from Egypt in the Spring and start their year then? Doesn’t Spring make way more sense as the beginning of the year? Our calendar is a mess. Here’s something else that doesn’t make sense. September is the 7th month. Do you know what Sept means? 7! October – the 8th November – the 9th December – the 10th. Those numbers don’t match up, obviously.

Well the reason for the mess that is our modern calendar is him, Julius Caesar. He was born 100 years before Jesus, and died about 44 years before Christ. So this is actually the calendar Jesus knew basically. And ironically Caesar actually fixed some other bad things about man’s version of the calendar.

Before him it looked like this: The year started in March, then came AprilMay June Quntilis which means 5, which makes sense for the 5th month. And Sextilis which means six. And so on. So those of you who are good at math will notice that their year only added up to 304 days, which isn’t enough for a year obviously. It takes 365ish days for the earth to go around the sun, making a year. But what happened back then was the Romans ended their year in December, and then for 60 days they had no months. Just a bunch of days in the dead of Winter that didn’t count for anything apparently, which I guess kinda makes sense. But then Julius Caesar decided to add a couple of extra months, January and February.

And since he didn’t care about he true God, he named them in honor of the Roman gods. Most historians believe January was named after either Janus, the god of beginnings, or Juno, the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Janus makes sense since January would become the first month of the year. And that month was probably chosen because it coincided with Romans elections. Since political offices changed at the time, their new year coincided with it. Then February was named after the Romans purification ritual Februa which was held on the 15th. March was named after Mars April possibly Aphrodite May the god Maia June after the god Juno. July Caesar named after himself, And after his death, August was named after Caesar’s son Augustus. So really what I want you to see is that this is a very secular calendar which did not honor God at all, even though He is the inventor of time. We secularized it and made a mess out of it as well. It didn’t work. It wasn’t accurate. We have leap years to correct errors in our calendars, they did not. So by the 1700s governments had to revise the calendar because it had gotten 11 days behind, so one years people just woke up 11 days into the future.

Unfortunately, what started out so well for the Jews also became a mess over time. The names of those months did not come from God when He created the Jewish calendar. They came from the Babylonians, and were borrowed from them. In the pre-Babylonian era, we find in the Scriptures only four months on the calendar that are identified by name: The first month (Nissan): Aviv The second month (Iyar): Ziv The seventh month ( Tishrei): Eitanim The eighth month (Cheshvan): Bul And the others might have never even had names, who knows? But during captivity Jews borrowed the names of the Babylonian months. And then the Jews picked a different time of year for New Year’s as well. Which is sad to me. Do you remember when it was supposed to be? At Passover the first of the Month Nisan (or Aviv)! But then at some point the Jews changed their New Year to the first if Tishri, over here in September. I don’t know why. But God’s calendar that He created was beautiful. It began in the Spring. It had months. Every day began and ended in the evening. There were spiritual festivals and renewals throughout the year to regain focus. And the last day of each week was deemed a day of rest and worship.

Another thing that’s interesting about our calendars is how we decide what year it is. The Romans also had inconsistent ways of calculating their years. Like for us today, we say it’s 2017, which means 2017 years from the birth of Christ. In Jesus’ day Rome would either say it’s the third year of the rule of Caesar, or they might go by the founding of the city of Rome, which they believed to be 753 BC. That was year 1 for them.

And then the days of the week had the mark of man in them as well, being named after planets and gods, but giving no honor to the Lord. And the Lord allows it. He knows that no matter how hard man tries to take control of the calendar he cannot control time. Every day, month and year was ordained by Him and will never change or slow down or stop regardless of what we do. We are moving towards an inevitable ending.

So what lessons can we learn from the calendar, as we enter into another year? First, remember that God created time when He made us. Genesis 1:14. He created the year to be exactly 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds long, He created a day to be 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. Let’s honor time rather than try to control it. The scripture says that God has appointed the seasons of our lives just as He has the seasons of the earth: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. So when we’re young, we need to not be in a hurry to get older. We experience the moment. When we’re old, we accept that it’s our time. When we’re in a difficult period of our lives, we consider that this is an appointed time from God and learn the lesson. And when we’re in a good period, we give thanks and praise, accepting its season no longer how long or short. He also wants us to learn to respect the brief amount of time that we have in our lives overall by preparing for its end. Psalm 90:12. Colossians 4.

A second lesson is that we must understand that we don’t control the future. God wants us to plan for it. But also to respect when His plans for us change. If something doesn’t go how we want, we seek to do God’s will instead. If God uproots us we accept it. Whatever happens must be accepted by us rather than controlled.

Another lesson is that, despite man’s efforts to hide God from His own calendar, God is still very clearly seen there. For example, our calendar includes weeks. Why? Weeks don’t correlate to the moon or the sun or anything natural. A year makes sense because that’s one rotation around the sun. A day makes sense because that’s one spin of the earth. And months make sense – that’s the cycle of the moon. So why has man always had a week as part of their calendar? It’s a mark of God. Exodus 20:9-11. It was purely the invention of God based on the days of creation, and that’s it. Weeks don’t fit anywhere. They don’t fit evenly into a month or a year, they just exist. It’s a sign of God. Another example of God being seen in the calendar is the fact that Jesus is at the center of it. I know a lot of people don’t like the Lord being so important in our calendar. And when people realize this, it can help turn people to God. I have a friend who was converted because he got to thinking about the place of Jesus in our time. He thought about why is it that across the world people now calculate time based on the birth of Christ? It’s compelling evidence that He was real and He was influential. So God does have a mark on our calendars.

Let’s not get caught up in time as conceived and observed by man. Our efforts at controlling it have always failed. We’ve got another year coming up, though, where we can make the most of it, trying to rescue as many as we can from the effects of man. And then beyond that each of our lives is moving towards an inevitable day where we will stand before God and give an account of them. Will you respect time enough to get ready?

Psalm 1.

If the book of Psalms were a place – These 150 intimate prayers written by godly men over a thousand year time period – You would go in and see trees and rushing water and the ancient city of Jerusalem, And battles and caves and men sunk in the mire crying to the heavens. You would see multitudes singing praises to God while others are tearful and angry and hopeless. It would be the realest place you could go to understand God and His relationship with His people.

And the 1st Psalm is the door. There’s a reason why this one’s first. God wanted this one first. Why? It’s a psalm about obedience. The very last Psalm, 150 is a Psalm of praise. The Psalms begin with obedience and end with praise. Psalm 1 is a Torah psalm. Torah means “Law.” Let me show you another Psalm, look at the 15th Psalm. Psalm 15:1-5. Are you careful who you let inside your house? Are you just gonna let anybody in there or do you need to trust them first? The door to the psalms is an indication that God has standards for who He’s going to invite in, just like all of us do. And if we want to go commune with God and join those who are praising and crying out to Him and viewing His majesty, we first need to be a certain kind of person.

So let’s go through the verses. It begins, Psalm 1:1-2. First is a warning to those who are not invited. Who do we keep company with? Seriously, who are our friends? Do you connect better with the wicked or the righteous? With the sinners or the saints? With the scoffers or the believers? And the progress is interesting. First you’re walking along with them, then you’ve stopped, then you’re sitting with them. In a minute God’s people will be like trees planted by the water, but unfortunately most people plant themselves with the wicked. It’s really hard to pull back up those roots. The first thing we have to do to go through the door to God is to reject everybody else. 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” And then once we’re defiant against the wicked and the sinners and the scoffers, then we’re ready.

The one who does this is blessed, and he delights in the Law of the Lord. If we’re not delighting in the Law of the Lord, something’s wrong. I think some Christians see the Bible as not much more than a set of rules to follow. There’s no delight in that. One elder believed that he had pretty much gotten the answers to all of the doctrinal issues out of the Bible and so pretty much wasn’t finding anything new in there anymore. That’s so sad. There’s delight in the Law of the Lord, because in the Law of the Lord is the Lord. You don’t read for the Laws, you read to find the Lord and by doing so to love Him. It’s so awesome to read Genesis chapter one, for example, and learn about what God is like from there in His character and nature. That’s He’s so detail-oriented and organized the way He made things, step by step, filling each space. That He didn’t think twice about making us knowing how we’d turn out, and that He took care of all of our needs, with making woman for man and yet waiting to do so until He first showed us what it would be like without her. And how He enjoyed all of it. We delight in the Law of the Lord because it’s the Lord’s. And we meditate on it day and night.. “Meditate” means “to mutter.” That’s the voice you use to talk to yourself when nobody’s around. “Where’s my glasses? Why did I go into the kitchen again?” The Jews muttered. I read that they wouldn’t read God’s Word silently. Ever. They always read it audibly. They would mutter it to themselves. Keep God’s Word not just on their minds but on their lips. It will bring delight. Don’t stop thinking about it and looking at it and listening to it all the time, when we lay down for bed, when we’re in the car and at home by ourselves. Are we doing that? Are we delighting in it?

If so, then we’ll be . . . Psalm 1:3. Old people are always talking about how bad the situation in the world is. They feel sorry for the next generation that has to deal with the mess. But don’t forget that old people have been saying that since forever. That went for old people in the 60’s, 70’s, every generation, And you young people are going to be doing that one day. Because when the world is a mess, people are more miserable. This psalm is reminding us not to care about the mess of the world. Because it’s beyond our control. God wants us to focus on what we need to be doing ourselves. Get yourself planted, and rooted, into God’s Word. And when the world is a mess, we’re still blessed. We’re still happy and at peace. Our needs are being met by the river, we are secure, and we’re actually being fruitful in our actions. Other people’s leaves are withering and they’re discouraged and feeling hopeless but we’re not. This is the happy man – the one who has character, who is avoiding evil and seeking to do good. There is nothing else out there that’s gonna make us happy.

If we don’t, do these things then we’re just chaff. Psalm 1:4-6. How would you feel being called chaff? Like someone is trying to put you down and make you feel bad. Let me try it. “You’re nothing! You’re useless and worthless, and you have so little substance that the wind carries you away.” That wouldn’t feel good. I don’t want God to think I’m wicked. I hope I don’t have to hear those words on judgement day. Imagine a day when the wicked and righteous are standing together, and judgement comes at us, and the righteous are deeply rooted and secure from the damage while the wicked see it coming and try to dig in and resist it but the current grabs them and washes them away. Can you picture that? How helpless to have nothing to grab onto.

So here’s what we have to do. Start by being contrary. I’m not walking or standing or sitting with you people. I’m done with these foolish habits that the wicked do. I’m done with everybody who is harming my faith. And then when you’ve left that, come in the gate, into the presence of God with the other seekers, and get to know your God. I can’t tell you about Him. I can’t tell you about how awesome He is. You have to go in there and see. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Not someday but now. He will let you find Him, 2 Chronicles 15:4. Right now there are people that we have all known in the past who get to see something that we only dream of seeing one day – the true majesty of God. They know what His face looks like. They know what His voice sounds like, whatever that means in the spiritual world. But we can be like that compared to a whole world of people who can’t see the Lord because they’re not ready to see Him. We’re the ones who get a glimpse of His majesty and love and we wish we could explain to them what we see but we can’t. Because they’re not yet invited in. Come in and see what those before us have seen. Tonight we’re going to look at another Psalm, the 32nd. I hope you can come back. Do you know there was one time when a man who died wished get a message back to his brothers, who were still living? He wasn’t going to say how much he loved them and it wasn’t going to be a message of comfort. He wanted to send them a warning. I’ll bet there are millions of souls wishing they could do the same thing for you. Right now. Who are tormented because the decisions they made in life have led to a terrible reality. What do you think about that? But God’s not going to let them do it, because you have this book, and God believes it’s enough warning. Are you ready to respond to it? Time’s running out.

Good evening. Much of what we’ve done Sunday evenings over the last year has been taking a look at different belief systems and comparing them to the word of God. For many churches, laying on of hands is an important part of what they do. Should it be something that we do? Let’s take a look at the scriptures. Because this is a Biblical topic. The Bible tells us that laying on of hands is a fundamental doctrine that mature Christians ought to understand.

Turn to Hebrews 6. These verses are right in the middle of a passage rebuking Christians for being immature in their understanding. The Hebrew writer wants to teach them some things about Melchizedek but he can’t because they’re not ready for it. He’s got to give them milk instead. And then here he exhorts them to move past the basics. Hebrews 6:1-2. Laying on of hands is the basics. What are the basics to you? Baptism, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Basics are important things, so if the laying on of hands is the basics, then we ought to spend time studying it. So let’s talk about it.

The first thing to understand about the laying on of hands is that it can be used in both a non-religious way and a spiritual way. You see it often used in the Bible to just describe someone being grabbed. Like when someone is arrested, or somebody grabs somebody to hurt them. This is actually the first way the phrase is used in the Bible: Genesis 22:12. And again in Genesis 37, Joseph’s brothers grabbed him against his will. Genesis 37:19-22, 27. Laying on of hands is used in this sense quite a bit throughout the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments, and I’ll show you that later on.

But then we see it becoming a major part of God’s Law once we get into Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. God commands the laying on of hands during sacrifice. Look at Leviticus. Leviticus 1:2-4, 3:2, 8, 13, 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33. What did that do when you put your hand on the animal that was to be killed for your sins? That innocent animal is about to have its throat slit for the sake of you and your family. And as it’s being killed, you put your hand on its head. Leviticus 1:4. So it’s a way of accepting atonement from the animal’s sacrifice. Its life is passed on to you. Also, later on when instructions were given about scape goat, the Bible says that Aaron lay both of his hands on that goat to put Israel’s sins on it Leviticus 16:21-22. So laying on of hands is a way of giving and taking. And let me show you one more verse that I don’t have on the overhead before moving on in Leviticus 24:14. In this passage, a man is accused of blaspheming the name of the Lord and sentenced to death. Leviticus 24:14. We acknowledge that he is guilty, we are the proof of his blasphemy, and we take responsibility for his death.

Let me show you one other way the word was used in the Old Testament that bridges to the New Testament in several ways. Twice in Numbers “Laying on of hands” was a ceremonial way of appointing someone to a job. When certain Levites were appointed as priests, they went through this ceremony in Numbers 8. Numbers 8:10-15. So what is the laying on of hands expressing here? That we are in agreement that these men will be our priests. They are our choice. And so in a sense the people are taking responsibility for their leaders. And then Moses does the same for Joshua in Numbers 27:18-21. Why? So that people could see that Joshua’s authority came from Moses himself.

It’s elementary doctrine to understand instructions about the laying on of hands. What did that mean in the Old Testament? That laying hands on an animal sacrifice received atonement from it, and also gave to the animal our sins. It was a way to witness against somebody, and it was a way to accept responsibility for choosing somebody in an office or leadership position.

But now in the New Testament, laying on of hands takes on some new meanings as well. You still see it being used in the gospels to describe arresting somebody or hurting them, which the Jewish leaders tried to do with Jesus on a regular basis. Luke 20:19. But then remember in the Old Testament that people would lay their hands on an animal to receive its blessing and put their sins on it? Now in the New Testament the Lamb of God is reaching back. He’s now laying His hands on people to provide blessings. Jesus liked to heal people by touching them. Mark 6:5. And you remember the scene where people were bringing their children to Jesus for blessings, and Matthew says that Jesus laid His hands on them, 19:13-15.

In the book of Acts you still have laying on of hands used to pass along healing, like when Paul was healed from blindness by Ananias, and when Paul healed a man on Malta. But you also have it used as a way to commission people, like we saw in the Old Testament with the priests and Joshua. When the seven were chosen to serve the Jerusalem church in Acts 6, the scripture says . . .

Acts 6:6. That seemed pretty common in New Testament days. You appoint servants, you lay hands on them. You choose some evangelists, you lay hands on them. And that may be what 1 Timothy 5:22 refers to when Paul warns Timothy not to lay hands on others too quickly:

1 Timothy 5:22 The great thing about laying hands on people that we appoint is that you have to publicly let everybody know that this person is being chosen because of me. I have considered this, I have studied and prayed about this, and I approve of this man as our next elder. That’s a good system. It requires responsibility. And even if we don’t go back to the tradition of laying on of hands in this congregation, it would be great to find ways to create a stronger sense of accountability and responsibility for big decisions like this. We might not be so quick to appoint people if we have to stand before God and accept responsibility for the appointment, whether it’s a preacher or a deacon or an elder or whatever role we’re filling. I suppose we do this to a degree, don’t we? I might bring Brett or Javan up here and say I trust these men. They’re good men, good Bible students, and I’ll have my hand on their shoulder probably, indicating my approval of them. We just don’t do it formally. Maybe it wasn’t formal in the New Testament either, just something you did.

Laying hands healed, it commissioned, and then it spread the Holy Spirit from one person to the next. It’s interesting that God chose this method to spread His Spirit from one person to the next. Why limit the Spirit’s movement to the speed that man could spread it? There must be something to the intimacy of one person touching another and there’s a message of God endowing man with this gift to give other men if we want to.

Acts 8:17 says . . .

Acts 19:6-7.

So what are the takeaways from a study of the laying on of hands? I see three. First, it’s something God has told His people to use to accept responsibility. When we are appointing people to positions, it’s on us. I chose this person, and if I missed something it’s on my head. When we’re accusing somebody, we lay hands on them to publicly show that we accept responsibility for their punishment. Based on our testimony, this person will be disciplined. We have other ways of doing those things today, but I hope that you can see why it was such a useful way of expressing responsibility for centuries.

Second, laying on of hands is a way God taught us about the cost of our sin. When we lay our hands on the sacrifice, we are taking its life for ourselves. We are placing our sins and guilt on that animal’s head when we touch it. Maybe that’s something we can think more about as we partake of the Lord’s supper in the future. We are eating His body that was sacrificed for us, and drinking the blood that He poured out for us. Remember how His people long ago would put their hands on the head of the animal as its throat was cut for their sins.

And then finally, laying on of hands is intimate. It requires physical contact. That was God’s choice for moving the Spirit throughout the world. Physical contact. The apostle literally had to travel to Samaria to bring them the Spirit. And that’s the way He moves His gospel through the world today. From person to person, with intimate reactions between His people and the people of the world.

It’s a perfect system for a gospel that’s built on relationship. I appreciate your attention tonight. Just like laying of hands is very symbolic, baptism is as well. It’s a way of expressing our death, burial and resurrection with Christ. And it’s also the moment God chooses to wash away our sins.

Psalm 10:1 Psalm 13:1 Psalm 44:23ff Psalm 88:13-14 These passages asking where God is are common throughout the Psalms. Good people suffer and they can’t understand why God would not come and take it away immediately. Because if God is so loving, He wouldn’t want anyone, particularly the righteous and the innocent, to suffer, right? And if He was able, wouldn’t He always come to their aid right away?

Tell me what you would do: If you had superhero powers, where you could know when something evil was happening to a child. Some child molester is in their van, and they drive through a neighborhood and snatch a cute little 4 year old kid who was drawing in the dirt. They grab the child and drive away and nobody sees it. But you do, and you’re able to fly over immediately to this van. You know exactly where it is and you can easily overpower the guy and take back the child. If you could, would you do it? Yeah. I would. We all would. But the thing is, God doesn’t always interfere. As a matter of fact, sometimes he gives permission for it to happen, as in the case of Job. Or His creation causes it to happen, like when a lion or alligator snatches a child, or an earthquake kills thousands of people, including the innocent.

And this is the argument they use, and it’s the argument we’re going to examine tonight: If God is all-powerful, He could prevent evil and suffering. And if God is all-loving, like the Bible describes, He would want to prevent evil and suffering. But the world is filled with evil and suffering. Therefore, God either is not all-loving or He’s not all-powerful. The Bible says that we must:. . . honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect . . . (1 Peter 3:15). So we need to know how we’re going to answer this question when it’s brought up. Everyone of us knows people who think like this. What are we going to say to them?

So let’s think about this argument for a few minutes, and then we’ll turn to the scriptures to try and better understand how evil and suffering fits into God’s work as the superhero of the universe. Here’s the first question I have for you: Does the existence of suffering mean that God does not exist? In other words, does it make logical sense for someone to say to you, “There’s too much evil in the world, and that’s how I know there is no God.” I think we’d agree that the answer is no, for a lot of reasons. It’s possible that there could be a god but that he is evil, or he just doesn’t care. I’ve always thought how fortunate we must be that the most powerful being in the universe, our Creator and Father, is also the most loving. But I don’t see why it has to be that way. So suffering doesn’t disprove the existence of God. God could be loving or not so far as we know apart from scripture. And we also have to consider all of the other evidence for the existence of God. Vicki went to the doctor a couple of days ago with stomach pain. It was pretty bad. Well, the doctors had to figure out what the problem was. A virus? Or Just an irritation? Food poisoning or illness? It turned out to be appendicitis. But imagine if doctors had 10 clues to work with – including her physical symptoms, blood work, temperature, blood pressure, and 9 of them pointed to appendicitis but one strongly pointed to Zika virus. Should the doctors then rule out appendicitis because one symptom doesn’t match up with their understanding of appendicitis? The heavens are telling the glory of God. The trees. My eyesight. My brain. Animals. Jesus. The birth of a child. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. I think for most of us, we look at it this way: “It sure looks like there is an amazing Creator. I don’t understand everything about evil and suffering, but you can’t tell me that takes away from everything else that I know!” OK, so the existence of suffering does not mean there is no God.

But does the existence of suffering mean that God is not all-powerful? Because if you and I had that sort of power, we wouldn’t let children suffer, would we? We’d be out rescuing them left and right. My cousin drowned when I was about 10 years old. My aunt was a member of a church who thought they could raise him again, but it didn’t work. What if I had power back then? Why didn’t God stop it? Does that mean He can’t? Harold Kushner, who also lost a son, wrote a book called “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” and he decided that God is not all-powerful. Except He made a universe. He raised people from the dead, made a sea divide into two walls of water. Killed the firstborn in all of Egypt. Made a universe so large we still don’t know how big it is.

Have you ever seen this video? It puts the size of things in the universe into perspective. Can anything limit the Creator of this? Romans 11:33 Psalm 139:1-2 There’s too much evidence to conclude that God is not all-powerful. So maybe there’s another answer. Maybe He allows suffering for some reason.

Could it be that God just doesn’t care? Well, again, the message of the Bible is pretty much of the opposite of that. 1 John 4:8, 16. John 3:16. I have suffered, but I’ve never thought that God doesn’t care about me. Jesus sure seemed like a caring person, as you read about Him in scripture healing the sick and the blind, having compassion on people, forgiving, humble. Food tastes good. I always come back to that. Food that’s good and bad for me. Flowers smell good. Butterflies are pretty. I’m in awe of the ocean. It sure seems like God cares about us. But here’s the point: Suffering is not proof that God doesn’t care. That could be one way of looking at it, but there’s much more that needs to be considered.

So just because suffering and evil exists, it does not mean that God is not all-powerful. It does not mean that God is not all-loving. And it does not mean that God does not exist. We can still believe in an all-powerful, all-loving God in the face of suffering, and as a matter of fact billions of people still do. I think that’s pretty strong evidence right there. Alright, so what might we say to somebody who suggests that God must not exist because evil exists? Let’s take a look at some scriptures.

The Bible teaches that evil and suffering didn’t enter into the world until we sinned. So we have to look at it this way: For eternity, millions and billions and trillions of years, there was no evil and suffering. Man was created and chose to do wrong. Evil and suffering was born, by both the actions of man and the reaction of God. And then soon the world and its works will be burned up, and evil and suffering will be gone and the people of God will live with Him for another trillion trillion years without evil and suffering. So it’s got a very short lifespan. Genesis 3:14-19. What happened? Adam and Eve sinned, so they were removed from paradise, God punished them though pain in childbirth and the pain of work, and sweat and death. Their consequences affect all of us. Their sin affected babies and righteous people and wicked from then on. And when we sin, it’s our fault too that children suffer and that people die because we also are responsible for death in this world.

Also, not only did God curse man that day, but He doomed His beautiful creation to destruction as well. Just as He put the seed of death into Adam and Eve, He put it into His Creation. It’s dying. It’s falling apart. Romans 8:18-25. Why did God do that? So that it will be reborn whole again without sin. So that it can escape the sin we corrupted it with, and God can start all over again with the new heavens and new earth in the spiritual realm, 2 Peter 3:10ff. So evil and suffering started in this world when we let it in. And then God responded by adding death into the world.

And since it’s here, God uses it. James 1:1-2. Hebrews 12:7 There must be some things God can do with evil that He cannot do apart from it. He can take it and weave it into His plan. There are some lessons I’d like to teach my kids, but I know that sometimes they just have to experience it for themselves, even if it’s not fun. Blisters Punting So it’s painful for us and innocent people, but it’s useful for God.

Another Biblical teaching is that suffering, no matter how horrendous, is just not as horrible as we make it out to be. Paul argues this in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. I’ve always tried to imagine what death looks like to God who can see both sides of reality, the physical and the spiritual. Can you imagine it? What does it look like to him when someone leaves their body? How terrible is it for an innocent child to be released into the arms of God? It’s terrible, don’t get me wrong, but I try to see it from God’s perspective. Where does that baby go? It’s safe now, forever. Suffering’s not so bad. And Christians I think get that, which is why this whole suffering debate isn’t such a big deal to us. Yeah, we don’t like it, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal. As a matter of fact we welcome it because it’s actually helping us. We pray that God will use it to turn other people around. It does that to us sometimes. It’s not so bad. Unless all of your hope rests in this life, on this dying planet, it’s not a terrible thing. For people like us who want to grow and get better, we welcome it.

Let’s conclude by looking at one more place. The whole story of Job addresses this very question. With God’s permission, He allowed the devil to take Job’s possessions and security. He took all of Job’s beautiful children, allowing them to experience terrifying deaths. And he took Job’s health, forcing Job to scrape open nasty boils with broken pottery. The whole book is Job asking God to explain himself. He demanded to know why God would allow so much evil and suffering into his life. It wasn’t fair. And Job actually didn’t get much insight beyond this one point: Job 40:2, 8. Job, remember who you are, and remember who I am. When we discuss this with other people, we don’t have to act like we have all of the answers. And we want to discuss it with them in a way that shows we fully trust God and His decisions, even though we don’t know everything. We can talk about what we know, that God has always been good to us, that we would be lost without Him, and that we love Him and He’s always been trustworthy to us. But we don’t need to do more. So when someone asks this question of us, let’s answer with a sense of humility, and just try to give them the best answer we can based on our experience and scripture, and leave them to wrestle with their own faith and questions. But part of what we’re doing while answering their question is that we try to answer it with our own lives and perspective. In other words, we want to be a strong argument that God is good and loving, because our lives reflect to them the power and love of God.

Does evil and suffering prove there is no God? Of course not. There are many other possibilities than that. Does it mean that God doesn’t care? Or that God can’t stop it? No, it just means that God thinks and acts differently than we might. So ask the hard questions, like this one, but don’t lose sight of the multitude of other answers that are out there pointing to a loving, powerful God. I pray that the perception of your mind [ j ] may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength. He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens— far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, [ k ] not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put everything under His feet [ l ] and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.

Good morning.

Ephesians 6:11 commands that we . . . Ephesians 6:11. This morning and tonight we will be talking about how to stand strong against the devil. Tonight looks at the type of Christians who seem to stay strong, and what are their qualities. And this morning we’ll be looking at what it means practically to put on the full armor of God so that the devil can’t get us.

So read verses 13-17 with me and think about what the passage is telling us to do. Ephesians 6:13-17. So what’s this about? Well, the devil is attacking and scheming against us, and so what’s the armor doing? It’s protecting our vulnerabilities, places where the devil can attack us and we would die. Each piece of the armor is comprised of things that are most effective against the devil’s attacks and most protective of our vulnerabilities: Truth Righteousness The Gospel of peace. The Shield of faith. The helmet of salvation. The sword of the Spirit. So let’s go through each of the pieces of the armor of God and try to figure out exactly what the devil’s trying to do to us and what we can do at a really practical level to protect ourselves from his temptations.

And the first piece of armor is the belt of truth. One of the devil’s most effective weapons is lying Jesus said in John 8:44 that He is the father of lies. So if we don’t know what the truth is, if we’re naïve, he could get us to believe anything. It’s crazy what our culture is believing today because they don’t know what’s true. And the devil puts armor on them to protect them from us. You can’t get through to people who are protected by deceit. So how do we arm ourselves with truth so that we’re protected from the devil? And of course the first thing is we need to study the Bible a lot. If we’re not students of it, we’re vulnerable. Laura and I knew a guy back in Sunnyvale, we baptized him, and when I do that I always try to set up ongoing studies with people to give them as much as I can. So I went to his house to talk to him about it, and he met me at the door and just told me flat out, “I don’t want to be that kind of Christian. I got baptized, I’ll be at church but that’s as far as I want to go with this. I don’t want to be a Bible thumper. Which was shocking to me that someone actually doesn’t want to learn more about God’s Word. And he’s going to be vulnerable without that piece of armor. He’s going to believe wrong things. Another way to put on truth is by making being truthful and seeking truth generally speaking a key part of our lives. We’re always going to be the honest one, we’re not going to believe something without digging. Acts 17:11 Bereans Matthew 13 The crowds hungry for Jesus How important is truth to you? To always tell the truth and find the truth in every situation, no matter the consequences? These are the kind of people who are protected from Satan.

Next we put on the breastplate of righteousness. We protect ourselves with righteousness, meaning it’s important for us to be good people. The devil makes his army wear unrighteousness to protect them from God. If you’re unrighteousness God can’t get to you. And it works the other way around for us. When we love being good, Satan’s temptations don’t appeal to us as much. They’re disgusting. Practically speaking, there’s a couple of ways we can protect ourselves with righteousness. First, it has to be important to us to be good. We want to be the kind of people who value a good reputation, who believe in doing the right thing, who hunger for it, Matthew 5:6. Some of our friends do morally questionable things, but we’re going to live in a way so that people don’t think we’re interested in their immorality. Second, we need to believe in the power of righteousness. What’s so good about it? Why do people love unrighteousness? Because it’s fun, pleasurable. Instant satisfaction. What’s great about righteousness? But why would anyone treasure righteousness? Jeffrey used to enjoy Proverbs in the Bible, because it’s all about how to win at life. It’s the nuggets of wisdom that succeeds. We need to believe righteousness is what works. The more we believe in it the more we adorn ourselves with it and are protected. Put on righteousness by loving being a good person and treasuring righteousness. And the devil can’t succeed with people like that.

Now put on the sandals of the gospel of peace. And as I go through each armor piece I try to imagine what satan’s army is wearing on their feet. And it’s not good news, and it’s not peace. Maybe it’s bitterness, and anger and resentment and darkness. Anxiety. But God’s army can bear down and fight confidently because of the contentment we receive from the gospel. I imagine that you need a really good pair of comfortable shoes if you’re going to fight a war. If every step is painful, I just imagine some poor soldier limping into battle because of blisters and his shoes are too tight and he’s not going to last long. If we want to be protected from the devil, we have to find the peace of the gospel. Otherwise we’re vulnerable. Washington State fired its football coach last week because he wouldn’t get the Covid shot. Four assistant coaches were fired too. I imagine that would be discouraging playing after that, and the team lost yesterday. It’s easier to fight when you’re in a good frame of mind. The devil battles in bitterness and rage. It’s not as effective. We need to put on peace to fight the devil. By praying, Philippians 4:6. And meditating, Philippians 4:8. And remembering the victory that we have in the Lord. God’s side wins, period. How can we not be positive?

And similarly, we put on the shield of faith. Again, what kind of shield does the devil’s army use? Theirs is doubt, frustration, disappointment. They won’t listen to God because they don’t believe anything’s going to help. But if we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, there’s not much the devil can do to us. How do we put on faith, practically speaking? For one, we need to have some self awareness about whether or not we’re losing trust in God. We need to catch ourselves when we’re becoming cynical, or find ourselves becoming bitter and frustrated. That’s when we’re vulnerable. Second, we need to figure out how to trust in God more. That might mean meditating on how good He is to us. Or thinking about how He only wants what’s best for us. How He believes in us. Think about how powerful He is, that He can meet all of our needs, that He’s never lost a battle, that He’s an omniscient God, who has all the answers. So a lot of these pieces of armor, I believe, are put on through meditation. They’re being adorned in our minds and hearts.

And then we put on the helmet of salvation. So what’s that? Because it’s be something that we put on, not God. In Psalm 149:4-6, salvation is our crown. It’s on our heads like it is here. It’s our banner and pride and it’s guarding our minds. It’s our driving force. Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14 . . . So I believe what we’re putting on is a determination for the prize of salvation. If that is our pride and our hope, we won’t be vulnerable to the devil.

And finally we come to the only offensive weapon that is part of this armor, the sword of the Spirit. Do you remember when Jesus was in the wilderness being attacked by the devil, and He fought back with scripture. Matthew 4. Putting on this piece of the armor, then, means having the scriptures ready for the moment of attack. What scripture do you have for dealing with traffic? Handling your sister or parents? What’s your favorite pride scripture? Or complaining scripture? We need to have them on hand so that we’re ready to respond to every temptation.

If we put all of that on, it’s hard for the devil to find a place to penetrate. He can’t do much with people who hunger for truth and righteousness, who are at peace thanks to the gospel, and are constantly meditating on the goodness of God to strengthen their faith in Him, who have salvation on their mind and fight his temptations with the words of scripture. And these are all things we can work on and develop to protect ourselves from falling. Let’s be afraid of the Devil’s attacks and get motivated to protecting ourselves by putting on the armor of God. Tonight we’ll talk about some more practical things we can do to stay strong on the Lord.

Good morning. I want to thank all of our church members who worked so hard inviting people and getting the building ready for our guests. And we are thrilled to have our guests. You are such an encouragement to us, and we hope that you have felt welcome and we pray God’s blessings on you as you leave here.

The apostle Paul, who probably traveled more than any other apostle and established more churches than anybody, writes that devotion to Christ should be a simple thing.

It shouldn’t be as complicated or complex as following the US tax code, pictured here, thank you congress.

Apparently this is mathematical proof that 1+1=2. Following Christ shouldn’t be so complicated.

But clearly we’ve found a way to take what once was simple and pure and transform it into this: Over 33,000 different denominations (according to the World Christian Encyclopedia) Over 150 creeds, which are statements of belief that distinguish one Christian group from another.

And I don’t think God loves what has become of His religion. Jesus said just before He died, John 17:20-21

Paul the Apostle wouldn’t have loved it either. He said, 1 Corinthians 1:10

In the Bible, dissensions and factions are works of the flesh.

I’m an 80s kid, and it was different back then. I’m not gonna lie, I loved when we got Nintendo late in the 90s, and when I got email and the internet in college, when Laura and I got our first cell phones in 1998, and when phones came out with GPS that saved my life. Maybe in some ways it was better back before all of that stuff when we used to play outside and drink from the hose and read books. Certainly from a mental health perspective we had advantages over kids today who had social media. There were a lot of things that seemed simpler and purer back then. It’s never going to be like that again, I know. I’m not giving up technology.

But what if worship could be simple again? Let me paint a picture for you of simpler times.

Before us, it was just God. He is the only eternal thing. John 1:1-2 He was alone, but He had a dream - T o have children to share with. He made us like Himself for that reason. Genesis 1:26

Church in its simplest and purest form is God and His children. It’s the family of God. 2 Corinthians 6:17

Who wouldn’t want to be a part of something so beautiful and simple and pure? Ephesians 1:4-6. It’s a picture of God wanting, loving and blessing His children.

So, driven by that dream, God created the heavens and the earth. But not everybody’s going to be a part of God’s church. Jesus said, Luke 8:15. We have to prove ourselves the right kinds of plants that are strong and healthy, which in spiritual terms are the meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, whose hearts are pure, who love their neighbors and their enemies.

Many prove themselves unworthy of God’s family, and they are destroyed by the worries, riches and pleasures of life. But when God is ready, the heavens and earth will be destroyed, But all of that will be destroyed one day along with the universe itself, as the scripture says in 2 Peter 3:10.

But God’s church will never be destroyed. God will take them with Him into whatever is the next phase of His existence.

I’m pretty sure I used to have a pair of these. They went over your shoes so you didn’t have to take them off when you roller skated. If you yearn for a simpler religion built on relationship with God and being a part of His people, then reject the division that is out there – Every church doing their own thing – And you seek to find the Lord.

And He will make sure that you find Him, as long as you’re looking for Him here (Bible).

Just read the Bible and worship in the way that you see. In the Bible, Christians in cities would find each other and form churches. And they were simple groups. The apostles organized the first ones. They were designed as support groups for the brethren, Hebrews 10:24-25. They were for Ephesians 4:12-16. They didn’t get involved in politics. Didn’t fight social problems. They supported each other and then went on their ways back into the world to be lights. They had shepherds who were appointed to look after the flock. There were no presidents, no boards. They had deacons who served the church. They prayed and sang and took communion. And that’s what we are about in this group – we’re trying to get back to being like the Churches in the Bible. Of course some things are different – we have technology, and we wear different clothes, but we try to find the Bible pattern and copy it in its simplicity and purity.

Thank you for listening and considering a simpler way. No creeds, no denominational systems that are divisive. Just whatever is here is what we hope that we’re being. This world is not our home, we’re just passing through. It’s really not that great a place, and I hope that all of us can be part of God’s church where we’ll always be with Him. And we can if we’re following the right instructions. If you’re ready to be a Christian this morning, consider what God says to do as we close:

There’s one thing that defines that actions of every Christian, and it’s not about us or anything related to life on earth. In all things we are trying to glorify God.

Matthew 5:16

John 15:8

Romans 15:6

1 Corinthians 6:20

1 Corinthians 10:31

1 Peter 4:7

Our prayer before anything we do is always, “May this bring glory to the Father.” Some might think Christians are just trying to avoid hell or we’re just scared to be bad, but this is the focus of the true people of God.

It’s what makes us different from other people who are trying to do good things. They give to charities and help the poor and maybe try to love their neighbors sometimes, but they’re doing it for themselves or maybe for the greater good of mankind. The Bible says not giving glory to God is the origin of the sin of the ungodly. Romans 1.

I believe this is one of the key reasons God made us – for His glory – and I want to talk this morning about what that means and how we can live up to that purpose in our lives.

I don’t think it’s the only reason God made us exactly. The fact that God is love explains a lot about why we’re here. When you’re a being that is defined by love, you’re going to be motivated to share your existence with others that you can share that love with. It’s how love works – you have to have relationships with people. So it makes sense that God would have children. But God’s a lot of other things too besides love, and so we can’t be myopic and just focus on that one reason as to why we’re here. And clearly His glory is another part of the answer. Take a look at Ephesians 1.

He chose us and predestined us to the praise of the glory of His grace. He chose us for His glory.

He gave us an inheritance. Why? To the praise of His glory. He sealed us in Christ. Why? To the praise of His glory.

And this goal is all over the Bible – Isaiah 43:7, Israel’s purpose is for God’s glory. Ezekiel 28:22 God destroyed Sidon for His glory. And Romans 9:23 God tolerates wickedness for His glory. So we need to come to terms with the fact that His glory is important to Him and it’s a key reason we exist.

I will be honest and say that at first the idea that God seeks glory was not palatable for me. It sounds selfish and I know God is the most selfless, loving being that ever was. He’s good and kind. He sent His only Son to die for us. He was friends with Moses and Abraham though they were not His equals. He spent so much time and energy working on a plan to save us. He has no pleasure in our deaths, Ezekiel 18:23, And He doesn’t wish for anyone to perish but for all to have enteral life, 2 Peter 3:9. He’s the same Lord we see in Jesus, who had so much compassion for the sick and poor, And who ate with sinners and was so patient with the self-centered apostles, and He cried over Lazarus and His family. So whatever this means that God wants to be glorified, it doesn’t negate all of the good things we know and love about Him. He deserves to be glorified.

Keep in mind also that God doesn’t need us to make Him feel big.

He’s the one who gives to us, not the other way around. Acts 17:25. He doesn’t need our worship. He doesn’t need our reassurance. And that has nothing to do with the meaning of glorifying God.

God can’t be arrogant or egotistical. That would be impossible, because the definition of pride is lifting oneself up. A long time ago there was a king named Nebuchadnezzar who tried to lift himself up and claim God’s work for himself. And God put him in his place. The scripture says in Daniel 4 beginning at verse 28 . . . 28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” 31 Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.” Do you think God ever takes credit for things beyond what He’s done? That’s ridiculous. He created the heavens and the earth. There is nothing beyond God. Mr. Big Stuff Who do you think you are Mr. Big Stuff You're never gonna get my love Now because you wear all those fancy clothes (oh yeah) And have a big fine car, oh yes you do now Do you think I can afford to give you my love (oh yeah) You think you're higher than every star above No one can ever say to God, “Who do you think you are?” Because there’s nothing higher that God can pretend to be like there is for the rest of us.

So what does it mean to glorify God then, and what’s the point of it? Looking at the definition of the word, we find that it means to acknowledge or ascribe honor, to communicate or shine forth. To glorify God, then, means to speak well of Him and to shine Him forth. I think it’s obvious what it means to speak well of God, but what does it mean to shine Him forth? I think this is key, and it’s really important to understand if we’re going to fulfill our purpose as God’s creation. I’m gonna be honest, as a parent I want my kids to be my glory. I want them to be an extension of what I’m trying to be in a way, I want them to be a chip off the old block. Because I have values that I believe in, and that I’m trying to instill in them. And when I see those things in my kids, I’m proud. I want them to be good and kind and God-fearing, and I want them to be thoughtful and helpful, and hard-working, And I’ve been working for years to get all of those things inside my kids. And when I see them doing those things, I’m proud of them. And they glorify me because they’re an extension of me. I put some of me in them. In a way I’ve grown because of that. We glorify God when we are an extension of Him, when we internalize His characteristics and shine them forth. He’s the sun and we’re the rays.

So how do we glorify God? Not just by talking about how great He is, but by being His lights. And shining Him into places in this world that are dark and where God is absent because He is inside of us. I think this idea of glorifying God explains so much about the reasons why God made this universe. It was all a way for Him to communicate Himself, to shine Himself forth. Think about how this universe gave God a way to express Himself that He wouldn’t have had without it – How’s He going to be merciful without our failures? How’s He going to be forgiving? To us those are the main things about God but He’d never had a way to express them before us. Through His creation He was able to display His power in a new way; His wisdom and righteousness. His creation was a way to reveal Himself. We are a way for God to reveal Himself. And the universe is watching us to learn about God just like we observe the stars and the mountains and ocean and His amazing creation to learn about Him

Psalm 72:19. All of creation displays the glory of God. We need to do so as well. In some ways we can’t help but do so because we are fearfully and wonderfully made. No part of creation is like us with our minds and hearts and souls.

But we can take it a step further. We can take parts of God and put them inside of us, just like our children can do of us. We can take his holiness and righteousness and love and wisdom and truth and put it inside of us and shine Him forth in a way that no other part of creation can do. And if you believe that God is worth doing so, you will make your life and extension of His, and . . .

Matthew 5:16

You probably didn’t know this, but our culture is moving further away from God and His morals. I’m kidding, of course we all know that. It is interesting that people want to be moral. 80% of our country is concerned about its moral condition. They just all have their own ideas about what is moral. “According to a majority of American adults (57 percent), knowing what is right or wrong is a matter of personal experience,” Barna researchers assert. Three-quarters of Millennials (74 percent) agree strongly or somewhat with the statement, ‘Whatever is right for your life or works best for you is the only truth you can know. Americans were asked about their three greatest temptations. The answers weren’t God’s things – like greed, lust, hatred. The top three sins seducing most Americans: procrastination, overeating and spending too much time on media. That’s what the really bad sins are these days to most people. Our country is changing. Are we drifting with it do you think? Do you feel that the divide between Christians and the world is growing, or do you think we tend to stay a step behind the world in terms of immorality? The polls typically find that professed Christians stay in proximity to the world. The scriptures want us to increase that gap between us and the world. Romans 12:1-2. And notice the end of the passage challenges us to prove it. Prove that God’s ways works. Who are we proving them to? Certainly ourselves, and probably to the world that’s trying to find peace in other ways. Prove that being honest and kind is better than deceiving people into doing what you want them to do. And that prayer and holiness is better than drugs and alcohol and partying. That committing to marriage even when things are rough are better than divorce. Prove that God’s will is good, pleasing, and perfect. What are the things that we’re supposed to be proving in chapter 12? Take a look with me: Genuine love, 12:9. Hatred of evil, 12:9 Prayer, 12:12. And then the Lord spends a good bit of time challenging us to treat people who are bad to us a certain way. 12:14-21 Bless them, be happy for them, be sad for them, and be humble and good to them, and feed them, and give them water when they need it. And now we’re going to focus our lesson on these last couple of verses. The reason we’re so nice to evil people is in verse 20. So what do you think about this? They’re treating us bad, and we’re not happy about it, what can we do about it? Just take it? No, that’s not what the passage says..

What God’s telling us is what we can do about it. I think the message to us is that this is going to hurt them. This is how Christians can satisfy their need for justice. We’re proving things by following God’s instructions here in Romans 12. First, that living God’s way works, and second, that helping our enemies just and satisfying. My brother and I didn’t believe in hurting each other by being nice growing up. We fought a lot. We were all about revenge. I used to throw my toy cars at him. I used to poke him with pencils. He would try to make fun of me, “Your teeth are so dirty you can’t afford a toothbrush!” The world doesn’t believe being nice to bad people is very satisfying. And we usually don’t either. You punish. You make people pay. You pour coals on their head literally if possible. Talk bad about them, make their lives miserable. The Lord teaches to heap coals of fire on their head by being nice. And I think it’s really important to understand this as our way of seeking justice when people wrong us. In the Bible, coals always refer to justice. 2 Sam 22:13-15 Ps 140:9-10 Ps 120:1-4 Coals avenge. And these activities do hurt our opponent. It does hurt us when we are evil to somebody and they are kind to us. Clearly in a different way than attacking somebody with our words or fists, but it still does hurt. And we’re able to get justice through kindness and we’re not creating a situation that snowballs into evil – you hurt me, now I gotta hurt you back and on and on. I remember the day I realized I’d better not mess with my little brother anymore because he’s going to hurt me back. I threw a car at his head, and he came back at me, and he was a strong kid. He got payback. And this also isn’t a vengeance that looks towards their future destruction either. I’ll be nice to you now, but you’ll get yours someday, God’s going to get you. (Or when things are down for them, “You’re getting what you deserve.”) God isn’t telling us to think that way. What we’re doing is we’re treating them well now, we’re blessing them, and it’s coals of love we’re heaping on their heads. The only vengeance we create is brought upon themselves by their own conscience. In other words, we’re causing them to inflict themselves - that’s the satisfaction He offers to us.

The Beautiful Thing About God’s Way Is That It Does So Much More Than The World’s Way, which is just all about destroying someone. I’m not sure how much my brother and I accomplished by throwing cars at each other’s heads. God’s way of vengeance accomplishes a couple of things. First, yes it judges someone and avenges us. But it also can purify. Let me show you another use of coals in scripture. Isaiah 6:6-7. So not only can we judge them with our kindness, but we can also purify them by causing them to change and maybe even repent. Like the effect of worshiping Christians on an unbeliever, 1 Cor 14:24-25. Also, another thing coals can do is ignite. That’s what they do in Lev 16:12-13. God’s not interested in us only shining our light, but He also is hoping for us to ignite other lamps with it. Their fire is out. We can be a blessing to them by igniting them with our kindness.

So this is the great thing about God’s perfect will. It is so fruitful and productive. The world’s vengeance does one thing, but God’s vengeance accomplishes great things for both us and them. So much good on so many levels comes from doing things God’s way. We get to do good and fulfill our purpose there, Ephesians 2:10. We get to be merciful like we want. We get the prick of the conscience that we need from that person who hurt us. We get all that just by doing this one simple thing – being nice to a person who’s mean to us. Have you ever seen videos of people who are colorblind given those glasses that allow them to see color for the first time? It’s always so beautiful and amazing they cry. That’s God’s way versus the world’s way. It’s so amazing and full of depth and beauty.

And then there’s one more thing that happens when we do this to our enemy that’s not mentioned here. We have to go back to the Old Testament where the scripture was originally quoted from. Prov 25:22 If we do it this way the Lord will reward us! We get vengeance now, satisfaction for doing good, we accomplish so much and then on top of it He will reward us for our good choices! What a good Father He is to us. Rom 12:21 We’re rewarded with victory over this world and its unsatisfying way of life that is so convincing to so many people.

Who’s your enemy? Work, neighbors, family? Go do them good and be rewarded. You’ll probably discover they weren’t your enemy after all. They were your opportunity to renew your own self and transform your own mind. It’s OK to seek justice, as long as it’s sought alongside mercy, love, purity, and a desire to ignite them. Feed them this week. Bless them, be happy/sad for them. Heap coals of fire on them this week, proving the will of the Lord, and you will be blessed.

Good morning. I am excited to announce the addition of Clint, Renee, Fable and Ophelia to our church’s work. We are so blessed to have them for so many reasons. I love having them in Bible class because they are thinkers and know how to study and apply scripture and are a huge asset to our discussion. I’ve had several conversations about church membership this week, actually. And it made me think it would be a good idea to talk about this subject in a sermon.

Biblically speaking, I don’t know any scripture that talks about becoming a member of a local church. Which means there is no Biblical teaching for how it’s done. Should there be an interview process? Or a membership class? Or maybe a document signed? Should we have an official announcement or ceremony or something? The Bible doesn’t talk about any of this or even give us an example of how it should happen.

I know a lot of churches from the denominational spectrum have created systems for church membership that they require for anybody wishing to join them. For example this particular church requires . . . And I also know several Christians who believe this is setting rules where God has not set them, it’s man-made policies. Some Baptist churches I know require you to be baptized into their church, which means that people might get baptized several times if they move a lot. Which is not something you read about in the Bible. Other churches require you to have a letter that gets filed wherever you chose to “place your membership,” and it must be transferred when a person switches churches. In churches of Christ that I know, processes vary. I know some churches that have questionnaires they require for all new members to fill out to make sure they’re “doctrinally sound.” They’re scrutinized and interviewed to assure they’re doing everything right.

So this is what we want to consider this morning – is church membership a Biblical idea? And if so, how should it be done?

Now while there aren’t any examples of the church membership process in the Bible, there are examples of people joining churches in the Bible. For example, we see people joining the Jerusalem church. Acts 2:47 says that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. I think it’s clear from the Bible that we want to make sure people who want to join our spiritual family are saved people at least, as best we can figure it out. Have they done the things the Bible says are necessary to enter into Christ and get their sins washed away? Do they believe in Jesus? Have they repented of their past life and sought to walk in the light, and confessed their belief in Jesus and gotten baptized into Christ? Acts chapter six describes problems they faced as they were getting bigger. Acts 6:1. They were getting bigger and now some of the widows’ needs weren’t being met. This is a reference to the Jerusalem church. Saul joined the Antioch church. The Bible says he and Barnabas “met with” the church and taught, Acts 11:26.

And then there is Bible teaching showing that churches did have clear boundaries where a person could define who is part of this church and who isn’t. For example, the Antioch church had prophets and teachers IN it, Acts 13:-13. And notice they are a “they” – they fasted and set apart Barnabas and Saul for a task. Also, the Bible gives responsibility to leaders to watch over the souls of certain people. Hebrews 13:17. Who are the people these leaders are watching over? They know who their leaders are. Who’s keeping watch over your soul? It’s somebody they have agreed to put themselves under. 1 Peter 5:1-2 speaks of elders keeping watch over the flock that is among them, 1 Peter 5:1-2. The flock they are over would be that particular church. That means these churches had certain boundaries where people were in and part of these churches. Church membership is a Biblical thing.

Why does church membership even matter? Why waste our time talking about who’s in and who’s out, and how do they get in here? It matters because there are responsibilities that come with church membership, and there are responsibilities the rest of us have to you that we don’t have to people who are not members of this church.

Church members have a responsibility to assemble. Hebrews 10:24-25. We need you here, and the Lord asks you to be here. Why?

Because we need your encouragement and motivation. It seems like the same reason any organization suffers when their teammates don’t show up. Like a choir or a sports team having half their people not showing up from week to week. It’s hard to make progress like that. You encourage me when you’re here, and you motivate me. When you do come on Sundays, remember the responsibility from this passage to consider how to build up your brethren. Church members have these responsibilities.

They also have a responsibility to address a brother’s sin. Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:15 . . . What does “the church” here mean? Obviously the church members. The people who have decided to form a local church and be a part of it. And when their brother sins, the church members eventually have to get involved. To do what? To talk to the sinner. “If he doesn’t listen to them.” They go talk to him about the sin, try to get through to them. That’s your responsibility, not just mine. And then if they don’t listen to any of us, they become to us as a heathen and a tax collector. Now Jesus loved heathens and tax collectors. He spent time with them. Matthew 10:10-12 says Jesus sought after the sick and was merciful. I think our responsibility is to consider our brother like a heathen or a tax collector at this point and do what you would do for such people. Church members have a responsibility to their fellow members who are in sin.

And they’re to guard against brethren who are splitting us and stirring people up and saying things that aren’t Biblical. Romans 16:17.

And you need to participate in worship. 1 Corinthians 14:26. All of these passages are talking about church membership responsibilities. God designed local churches for Christians to join and form a spiritual family, and he gave us responsibilities. And I need to know which of you are part of this family so that I know my responsibilities towards you, because I don’t have the same responsibilities towards non-members.

So how should church membership happen? Biblically speaking, I believe there are two things that need to happen for a person to join a church. First, the church needs to confirm that this new person is a Christian. Now we can’t know that for sure, and I believe it can be dangerous to make a checklist of what to look for in potential members because it’s always going to be an incomplete list of questions and we don’t want to define who is and who isn’t a Christian based on our list. Certainly we want to know if they’ve obeyed God in the process of becoming a Christian and so we at least need to know that. And then we need to let the rest of the church know this person is joining the church so that they all can fulfill their responsibilities towards this member now. Because if they don’t know they won’t be able to fully fulfill their responsibilities towards this person. So however these two things are done, they need to be done . . .

To assure the church is functioning properly.

Paul told the Colossians in 3:17 whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord. Let’s do our best to handle Church membership in a Biblical way, not overstepping our bounds, but understanding the will of God in church work and doing it in a way that fulfills our responsibility as a Church belonging to Christ.

What kind of qualities do you like in a leader?

Someone who will fight for you, Strong-minded and determined, Someone who will challenge the status quo and isn’t afraid to stand up to authority.

If you like these qualities, you would have loved the man who led a major rebellion against God and Moses in the wilderness, named Korah. I don’t think Korah thought he was rebelling. This is a scary thing about rebellion. It can look like we’re fighting for the right thing. Numbers 16:1-3. Korah thought he was being courageous. He was righting a wrong, standing up against a bully, a dictator named Moses. Korah is great lesson for us in identifying the line between courage and rebellion.

Let’s take a moment to get familiar with Korah. Who was he? First, He’s a leader. Did you notice he’s got 250 people with him standing up against the bully Moses? And not just 250 random citizens – his mom and sisters and cousins. These are important people, leaders in Israel, 16:1. Ever since Israel left Sinai for Canaan’s land, the people grumbled and complained and lost their faith in God. Korah’s rebellion with these 250 leaders in Israel shows this still hasn’t changed. It’s sad to me that Korah was a Levite, the family that has the privilege of serving God in His dwelling place. And he’s from the great family of the Kohathites. Do you know that song, “As The Deer . . .” His family wrote those words. They also were the ones privileged with moving the ark. We saw earlier that was the Kohathite’s job. And part of Moses’ response to the rebellion is reminding him and the others they have an important place in God’s kingdom. It’s harder to complain against someone else’s position when you realize your own importance. Numbers 16:8-10. If we can do a better job of seeing our own value, and not seeing the doctors and lawyers and politicians as better than us, we won’t have anything to rebel against because look at how special we are. Romans 12:3 warns us not to be prideful but to think sensibly about yourself. If you don’t understand your value, there’s going to be a battle of rebellion inside you.

Korah had two complaints for Moses. The first was, “ You two think you’re better than us.” 16:3 You think you’re holier than us? Why do you act above us?! When Korah said this, that was rebellion. When we say this or think this, we need to be concerned about our own rebellion. Have we ever thought that about a boss? I had a hard boss to deal with back at KFC – a lady who I had a hard time respecting. I pretty much didn’t like anything she asked me to do. Have you ever felt that way toward church leaders? They’re listening to this person and that person and not me, they’re letting this person teach and lead singing and not me. I know I had this tendency with my parents. I had a hard time obeying them because they were wrong so often. A lot. I think we can see exactly where Korah crossed the line in his rebellion. First he thought, “We’re all equal in God’s sight!” And that was right. And then he asked, “Moses, God is with all of us, not just you!” And that was true as well. It’s interesting, it’s the same complaint that had gotten Miriam and Aaron in trouble earlier. Has God only spoke through Moses? I can see where it would have been a hard time for these other leaders in Israel hearing all of the complaints of the Israelites, the people were so unhappy with the food situation and being stuck in the wilderness, and these leaders heard it and saw Moses doing nothing about it, and they couldn’t stand it any longer. God is with all of us, not just you Moses. Yeah, that’s true. Which led to their question, “Therefore, why do you put yourself above us!” Was that true? No. They ought to have known better. Moses didn’t put himself there. Governments don’t choose themselves. Parents don’t make parents in charge. God is the ruler, and anytime we submit to leadership that He’s responsible for putting in place, we are submitting to Him.

Numbers 16:12-14 Gives the 2nd complaint, via Korah’s friends. Numbers 16:12-14 You took us out of the greatest land there is, and you haven’t brought us to the promised land, and now you’re going to kill us in this wilderness, And now you want to Lord it over us and make us your slaves? Was there any truth to their complaint? Was Egypt a land flowing with milk and honey? Well, yea. It was a great place to be a slave, a rich place. Are they dying in the wilderness? Yea. But I guess they forgot their role in all of that, like the Golden calf and the spies and the complaining. They take no responsibility for their circumstances. It’s just Moses and his ego that got us in this mess. Christians complain about their church and how it is and it’s not growing like they have no role in its problems.

Moses has four responses to the rebellion of Korah. First, he ducked, 16:4. Wouldn’t you? Next time we’re busy getting ticked off at people who are in charge of things around us, let’s remember the most important lesson of this story. Rebellion is serious to God. It’s dangerous! If we have those feelings; if we are discontented, and can’t respect the positions of God and those in His systems, we’re going to die, 1Cor 10:7-10. We’ll be destroyed, too! That’s still the God of today, that’s the God we put our trust in, and even for us it’s still a fearful thing to fall into the hands of Him. No one’s going to stop you from forsaking your responsibilities, your place, or from having a bad attitude, but please consider the consequences before deciding if you really want to go there. Rebellious people are discontented. They’re worried about bothered about so many things and missing the important things.

Second, he reminded Korah and the others of the honor God had bestowed on them so that they weren’t so fixated on the honor given to Moses by God. 16:8-10. You have to see that p eople want the blessings that you have and appreciate your position.

Third, Moses encouraged Korah to take up his complaint with the one he really had a problem with. 16:4-7, 11, 28-30. It’s not the guy in charge, it’s the guy who put the guy in charge. If you have a problem, take it up with God! He chose Moses, Aaron, your mom & dad, government, elders. Job did that, you remember. He took his complaint about the Lord directly to the Lord at least. You can say a lot of good and bad about Job, but he is a great example to us of taking our issues to God rather than rebelling. It’s a lot harder to say to God that He doesn’t know what he’s doing than to say it to a man.

Finally, when the rebels prove themselves closed-minded, Moses quit talking to them and turned his attention to the people, hoping at least they can learn, 16:28ff. At some point, we have to let the rebel go. Give them over, as Rom 1:28 says. And hope it’s an opportunity for others to learn from their failures. Don’t feel sorry for these men. They were not good-natured men who made a mistake. 16:26, 30 They were wicked, and they were fighting against God’s way. And they were removed for the benefit of the rest of Israel. 16:31-41 Unfortunately the people did not learn the lesson.

If anyone here tends toward rebellion, the Bible does give good news, 1 Peter 5:5-6. Like anything, we can fight it. We can change our hearts, and we can help people to change theirs: Let them know their place is wonderful. Be sympathetic toward people in other positions. And be afraid. If we don’t, it’s not going to end well. We may not like every decision God makes. You may not trust God’s way for some reason (even though He has given us every reason to do so), but if we oppose authority we’re in trouble. God gave those people so many chances! He showed them that He chose Moses. He backed off of greater consequences for the people. Things could have been so much worse. If you are rebellious, please don’t wait until it’s much worse. The way God’s system works is that you have a choice between really good and really bad. He does everything to get our attention until we follow Him. He gave me some godly friends when I was an idiot teenager. He gave me a girl who helps bring me closer to God. Preachers who’ve helped me, and many little things here and there to make me think that God wants me. What has He shown you? Acts 22:16.

John 19:23-25. I remember standing in a hospital room years ago as a brand new preacher watching a new Christian stricken with cancer, named Tim, take his last breaths. His wife Helen was with him. The chemotherapy had destroyed his lungs, so the doctors put him on a ventilator, which was his greatest fear. I remember Tim struggling to breath and Helen was right there next to him saying, Tim, it’s OK. I love you. You can go. When Jesus died He was not alone. His mother stood nearby, along with John and two other women. Each of the three ladies, interestingly, were named Mary. What do you think they said to Jesus to express their love? As He’s struggling to breathe, and naked and being humiliated in every possible way? I imagine these three women were like Helen. The three Marys were Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James & John, and Mary Magdalene. Mary, fittingly, means “bitter.” It’s what Naomi called herself back in the days of Ruth after she had lost her sons, along with her husband. Certainly this was a bitter day for Jesus’ mother. Mary, the mother of James and John, will also experience the death of her son James in a couple of years, as the first apostle to be martyred. But I’d like to tell you some more about the third Mary who stood by – Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ friend. Jesus had few close friends during His time on earth – there were Peter, James and John, and probably Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and then this Mary. Let me explain what made her Jesus’ friend.

Because there are so many Marys in the New Testament, this one is called Mary the Magdalene. Magdalene means “Tower.” There seems to have been a city in Israel called Magdala, on the shores of the sea of Galilee, which makes people think she’s from there and that’s why she’s called Magdalene. Others recognize that Jesus likes giving nicknames, like Peter being called “Rock” by Jesus, and wonder if it’s just a nickname Jesus gave to exalt her. There’s just so much about her that we don’t know.

We know she was with Jesus at his crucifixion. Some people won’t go to a hospital to visit a friend because they’re uncomfortable. I know Christians who won’t go to funerals. Mary stood at her friend’s side for six hours as He suffocated in agony. And did you know this is the first time we read about Mary Magdalene? As she is with him in death? She’s not in the first 26 chapters of Matthew – she’s introduced here, 26:55-56. She was certainly there before, but it’s at the cross where she stands out. Mary was a friend of Jesus because she loved Him deeply to the end. I love John’s description of Jesus’ love for His disciples in chapter 13 verse 1. John 13:1 Mary loved Jesus to the very end. How did she love him at the cross? What was Helen’s love for Tim in the hospital? I think some Christians believe loving Jesus means obeying Him, but that doesn’t go far enough. Love and obedience are different things. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.” Love leads to obedience. Do you know who would make the best lover in the world if love was obedience? Probably a robot. Wouldn’t that be great? A robot wife and kids? Who always obey us? Aiden likes experimenting. He likes putting things in the toilet. He saw the dogs going to bathroom outside in the backyard so next thing I know that’s what he’s doing. Free will is frustrating, but it’s an important part of love. I love my kids more because they are unique individuals. Some Christians, if they were Mary at the cross, would be so focused on obedience that they would not know how to love Jesus in that moment. Do you think Mary is standing at the foot of that cross thinking, “OK, I hope I’m obeying right, let’s see, is this where I should be standing, or maybe over there a little? Or should I be getting ready for Sabbath tomorrow? I don’t think I have the food ready and the laundry done yet.” Of course that would be ridiculous! Because when you love somebody you’re compelled to be there for them to meet THEIR needs in the moment. Your heart hurts for them. You think about their pain and are affected by their suffering. If you want to be considered a friend of Jesus like Mary was, Try to understand what the Lord is thinking, what He’s feeling and enduring. Get to know Him intimately in that way. Philippians 3:8, 10. If we want to be counted as a friend of Jesus’, then we have to love Him.

After Jesus died, the Bible says Mary Magdalene stayed with His body to continue to serve Him. Please turn to John 19 in your Bibles. As we read this, feel for Mary Magdalene who wouldn’t leave Jesus’ side: John 19:32-20:11. Friends love until the end. Sometimes it’s such a helpless feeling trying to serve the Lord because we’re so powerless. How can we benefit God in any way? Mary just did what she could. She stayed with Him through the suffering. She remained with the body, all the way to the tomb. She cleaned it up, made Him look as fresh and clean as possible, made Him smell good, gave Him some clothes and wrapped Him. And when He was resting peacefully, and she could do no more, then she finally left Him there before checking on Him in the morning. And because of this God honored her with an important part of His plan. When Peter and John heard the tomb was empty, they raced to see. But they looked around and found nothing, so that left. But Mary stayed outside the tomb crying because He was gone. And after Peter and John leave, Jesus reveals Himself for the first time, not to any of the apostles but to Mary Magdalene. Who was there when the Lord needed someone. John 20:11-17 Have you ever had a hug like that? She’s squeezing so tight that the Lord has to tell her, “Mary, let go! I’ve got to go!” It’s been pointed out many times that a women should not have been the first witness to the resurrection, because their testimony wouldn’t have been accepted by the men, but the Lord saw fit to honor her above the men. People who love Him and who want to serve are going to play an important part, John 20:18

It’s only after all these things, after we read about Mary at the tomb, that we’re finally given a little bit of her backstory. Mark 16:9. Luke 8:1-3. Friends of Jesus appreciate what He’s done for them. It’s no wonder she was so loyal to Jesus, after having to experience 7 beings living inside of you who have already been told they’re going to hell for eternity. Jesus once told a story about a man who was once possessed with seven demons, in Matthew 12. And He indicates there that some people, due to their choices, were more susceptible to demons than others. Matthew 12:43-45. Traditionally, Mary Magdalene has a reputation as a reformed prostitute in sermons and secular writings. There’s zero proof of that. But perhaps her being possessed by demons indicates she had made bad choices, and that Jesus saved her from her sinfulness. Regardless, Mary was healed, and she never forgot what Jesus had done for her. The scriptures say that she, along with other women, traveled with Him to take care of Him. Mary wasn’t just a friend at the cross, then, she was like another mother to Him. True friends of Jesus constantly are reflecting back on what He has done for them, and what He continues to do. The apostle John was one of Jesus’ close friends. In his gospel he never writes his own name. He just calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. I get why he did that. It’s not that he felt he was the only one Jesus loved, but the fact that Jesus loved Him was so amazing. Sometimes it just hits me that the Lord loves me, as in personally. That He’s been watching me and guiding the things that happen in my life. He calls me by name. He’s done things specifically for me, uniquely for me. Friends of Jesus can’t escape that idea, and it drives them. 1 Timothy 1:12-16. For Mary, she felt compelled to travel with Jesus, support Him as best as she could, and then make the trip with Him to the cross, as Mark says, 15:41.

Mary Magdalene, the bitter tower, became one of the few friends the Lord had. Would you say you’re a friend of the Lord’s? Do you love Him like Mary did? Do you serve Him like she would have? Do you appreciate Him in a way that drives you to minister to Him? He’s done things for you that no one else could, because He loves you. He stays with you during your suffering. Will you be a friend back to Him?

“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 I suspect this verse doesn’t mean what a lot of people think it means.

I’ve heard brethren say that it’s teaching if we raise our kids right they’re going to go to heaven. From what I’ve seen, that sure doesn’t seem to be the case. I know children whose godly parents taught them the truth growing up who abandoned it as adults. I think this happened to our heavenly Father as well. There was no better Father than Him, and no one followed this scripture better, and many of His children left Him. So how is it possible that we can guarantee our children’s salvation with perfect parenting? Don’t they still have free will? Do we think that somehow they’ll have no choice but go to heaven if we’re perfect? I want to show this morning that this verse isn’t saying, “If we teach our children the gospel at a young age they will follow it forever.” We should teach them the gospel starting young, and I imagine we’re giving our children a huge advantage when we do so.

But this passage isn’t talking about our children’s faith. It’s talking about instilling good habits into them. As parents, we are responsible for instilling habits in our children that they will take with them for the rest of their lives. They may try to shed them and change them once they are grown; they may experiment in the way they should not go. But there will be a battle within them as they do wrong, because those habits we instilled in them when they were children will not let them go.

So let’s take a moment to understand the words of this verse. This word translated “train” means locking them into a direction in life. Before missiles are launched at their targets. They get locked on so they won’t miss. That’s the same idea as this word. “Train” means “To narrow.” It’s often translated “Dedicated” in scripture. Proverbs 22:6, 5 Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Deut 20:5 63 Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 1 Kings 8:63, 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. Chr 7:5. Every other time but in Proverbs 22:6, the word is used in the Old Testament, it’s translated “to dedicate.” So training a child must mean we are dedicating them for a certain path in their lives. Untrained children have no direction. Every possibility is opened to them. That must be such an insecure feeling for kids. In today’s culture, kids are taught they can choose their direction for everything because there isn’t a right way to go. Some parents just aren’t involved enough with their children to provide this level of guidance. Godly parents don’t do this. We narrow it down for our children. We set them on the narrow way.

So how do we train our children? First, it’s important to understand that training is not the same as “discipline” or “punishment.” We do need to discipline. Lots of other verses indicate this. Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death. Proverbs 19:18 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. Proverbs 13:24 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. Proverbs 22:15 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. Proverbs 23:13-14 The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. Proverbs 29:15. So we do need to discipline, but don’t confuse that with training. Training comes first, and then discipline comes later. First we have to train the habits into them. I read a book years ago written by an Amish gentleman comparing training children to training animals. And I thought he made a good point. I was never good at training pets, which probably didn’t bode well for my parenting. Our dogs used to get out and run away, and I would go find them and yell at them and scare them. How did the dogs understand that? They didn’t know to associate my yelling with their getting out. Have you ever come home trash in your living room because your dog got into the trash? What do we do? We yell at them or rub their noses in it or something. Are we training them not to get into the trash? Or trying to make them feel bad? Training would be teaching the dogs to stay where I want them to be and not leave the yard in the first place, not chasing them down and yelling at them. Training is instilling behaviors in our children so we don’t have to discipline them later. That’s what “train up a child” means. For example, a parent might teach their children to come when they’re called. We can’t just assume they’re going to know they ought to do that. We have to teach them to do it. We would probably need to set up a training session with them and practice. When I do counseling sessions with parents and children we practice. Parents practice saying uplifting things to their kids to build them up. Children practice minding. Parents work on phrasing things the right way to get their kids to comply. Parents need to practice with their kids to train them.

Train doesn’t mean discipline, and it also doesn’t mean instill faith in our children when they’re young. Obviously faith is the most important thing. That’s the only thing that ultimately matters. But that’s not what this passage is talking about. Training them up must be done before our children are old enough to understand. And often training our children is something we do to them in spite of what they believe. Oh, so you don’t want to eat your vegetables? Well, you’re going to eat them. To instill faith in our kids, we have to reason with them. But they have to be mature enough so that we can reason with them. Here’s why the path of your friends is the wrong one. Here’s why you need to act in a godly way. Here’s why you can’t do what your friends do. Let me explain. Training is not explaining! This is instilling faith: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, Acts 17:2 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. 18:4 It’s good to reason with our children, but just like with discipline reason comes after the training. Have you ever seen a parent try to reason with their child while the child is having a tantrum? You can’t have that, honey. It’s too expensive. Look at how silly you look, pick yourself up, you’ll spoil your dinner if you eat that. Has the child ever said, “You know mother, you were right and I can’t believe how immature I was acting.” It doesn’t work like that. And if a child is throwing a tantrum, they’re probably too mad to process anything you’re saying anyway. What we’re trying to do in training is instill good habits in our children in spite of how they feel or what they desire. Things like obedience, self-control, controlling their flesh. Godly children have those qualities not because their parents eloquently argued for their value but because they trained them properly.

So how do we train children in the way they should go? Let me suggest a few thoughts. Think back to the garden of Eden. I believe the garden of Eden was a classroom maybe even more so than paradise. Knowing what I know now about parenting, it’s interesting to see that God provided a perfect environment for Adam and Eve to learn in. Eden was safe. All their needs were met. They didn’t have to worry about basic needs. They weren’t scared. They trusted God, and He loved them and had a warm relationship with them in the beginning.

And then God started His training with the basics, like all good parents do – “Don’t touch.” Why do you think God put that tree in the middle of the garden and then told them not to touch it? He’s teaching them. It’s a good parenting technique to put things within reach of our children and then train them not to touch certain things. Leave the plan on the table, and be right there with them to gently say no when they try to touch it. And again when they try again, maybe a little pat on the hand, and pretty soon they’ll realize it’s not a good idea to touch the plant. That’s training. What a lot of parents do instead is that everything they don’t want them to touch, they move it someplace higher. That way they learn that if they can reach it, they can touch it. Which isn’t going to work when you take them to somebody else’s house. We can set up training to teach our children to come when called in the same way. The biggest lesson we teach parents at child welfare is everytime a child is given a command by the parent they comply. Parents love that one. That kind of training sticks with our children and gives them weapons against sin as they grow older like self-discipline and obedience. Another thing we teach our parents is to watch their tone. No yelling ever. For one, our children become tone-trained. We definitely have done this with our dogs. They know they don’t have to come when we say come. Or Come. But when we say COME, that’s their Q. If you like yelling at your children, tone-train them. If not, teach them to comply to your calm tone.

And while we’re training them, let’s keep working on our own training. We need to be obedient as parents to the scriptures that say to watch our tempers. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. Proverbs 14:29 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger James 1:19 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4. Train up a child in the way they should go. It will certainly make for a happier family: 15The rod and reproof give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother. 16When the wicked increase, transgression increases; But the righteous will see their fall. 17Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul. Proverbs 29:15-17. It will also make it very difficult for them to live a wicked lifestyle when they get older. Your heavenly Father has been training you up in the way you should go. And now He hopes you will step out in faith because He is jealous for you. Are you ready to obey? Acts 22:16.

Matthew 8:5-13. The four gospels in the Bible, which tell the story of the life of Jesus, reveal 32 times when other people were amazed by something Jesus did. I doubt it’s surprising to any of us that people were amazing by Jesus after seeing Him heal terrible diseases like leprosy and teach the truths that changed our lives. But it is surprising to see Jesus being amazed, isn’t it? Twice in the gospels Jesus was astonished. One time was in Nazareth when Jesus had gone home and realized the faithlessness of His own friends and neighbors who had known Him all their lives. And then the other is here in Matthew chapter 8 when Jesus was shocked by the faith of this Centurion. This is the only time the Bible records Jesus being astonished at the greatness of somebody’s faith. What if one day we could have a conversation with the Lord where He would say, “You know what? You really amazed me with your faith. What you did was astonishing.”

That would be awesome because faith is what He’s looking for in us, and if we have it we’ll be rewarded. Hebrews 11:6. So what was so special about this man’s faith that made Jesus marvel at it? Let’s take a look.

First of all, one of the reasons Jesus was so shocked probably had to do with the Centurion’s race. He was not one of God’s people. He was an enemy of God’s people. Centurions were captains in the Roman army leading about 100 men (“Century”). The Romans had conquered Israel and were ruling over them and getting taxes from them.

Maybe another reason he surprised Jesus is that he lived in Capernaum where the Jews, Jesus’ own people, weren’t believing in Him. Why would an outsider follow God if even God’s own people were unbelieving? Have you even seen a group of “Christians” who were behaving so badly you worried what effect they were having on non-Christians? Matthew chapter 11 says Jesus denounced Capernaum. Matthew 11:20, 23-24.

Jesus did a lot of miracles in Capernaum. They didn’t impress the Jews, but maybe this man did his own research and believed.

I think it says a lot about our Lord that even though this man didn’t fit the mold of a man of faith, Jesus was ready to go to His house and serve Him anyway. What was it about him that caught Jesus’ attention?

The first thing that stood out about his faith is that he was a loved man. Matthew doesn’t tell us that the centurion didn’t talk to Jesus Himself, but Luke tells us this man sent his friends. Luke 7:1-6. First, some of this man’s Jewish admirers went on his behalf to Jesus. They should have despised the centurion since he was a Roman occupier, but the centurion made it hard for people to dislike him. The Jews tell Jesus he is worthy of the Lord’s help because he is a loving and generous man. Do you have enemies who would vouch for your love and generosity? Do you have people who probably shouldn’t like you but will attest to your worthiness? If we’re different from other people because of our faith, other people are going to notice. It should have a positive affect on our relationships. Verse six tells us about a second set of friends that he sends to make sure Jesus doesn’t go out of His way to travel to his house. Luke 7:6. It’s interesting that his first friends bring a message to Jesus that the Centurion is worthy in verse four, and so then he has to send a second set of friends to Jesus with a message that he is not worthy. Was it hard for him to get his friends to go tell Jesus he’s not worthy? When he’s in pain and needing help and he’s helped so many other people and they’re all trying to advocate for him and convince Jesus that he’s deserving of help, and then he demands they go tell Jesus I’m not worthy. No, I’m not gonna tell Him that because we think you are worthy. I insist. Maybe that was not the message they wanted to send to Jesus, but this man had true friends who loved him because he was the right kind of person, a man of faith. And verse six says this was the reason Jesus went. The friends pleaded earnestly, so Jesus went with them.

He was loved, and he was loving. Luke 7:2 says he highly valued his servant. He cared enough for him that he tried to save him. Matthew 8:6 tells us the centurion was bothered by his servant’s suffering. And again he probably shouldn’t have cared so much about a servant. Luke 7:5 also says he loved the Jewish people and he probably shouldn’t have cared so much about them either. What’s your level of concern for people who probably shouldn’t be of any concern to you? Do you find yourself having compassion for people who really aren’t part of your life? If we have that deep faith God’s looking for in us, it’s going to affect our hearts. We’re going to have a level of compassion that doesn’t exist in other people. We’re going to love people who are beneath us like the centurion had for his servant and for the Jewish people whom he had conquered.

Another sign of his faith was the fact that despite so many people in his life telling him how great he is, the centurion was painfully aware of his own unworthiness. Luke 7:8. Come heal his servant for he’s worthy! Lord, I’m not worthy. Please don’t come. Jack, Harold and I had lunch the other day and we were talking about a tendency for people to think they’re good people. You’re probably never going to go to a funeral where somebody’s family and friends say, “Yeah, he was a terrible person.” Everybody’s decent, everybody’s a good person to some degree, we think. It’s hard to convince a lot of people to seek repentance and redemption because they think they’re OK. They don’t need to go to church, they’re good people. It doesn’t work that way, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us deserve to be found guilty on judgement day. And one important sign of faith is when we can verbalize our own unworthiness, even when other people don’t know any better. Now up to this point in the story, Jesus hasn’t yet indicated that He’s impressed. Maybe so far it’s a good story – OK, so this man is loved by many, he cares deeply, and he’s humble. This is all wonderful.

It’s not until Jesus hears his understanding of authority that He becomes impressed. Luke 7:8. He actually sounds unimpressed to me about Jesus’ power. Jesus is amazed at him and his faith, and the centurion is not amazed at Jesus’ power. He just takes for granted Jesus’ power. Lord, I know that you can just say the word and it will happen. I know that you have authority to do so, I understand how authority works and that this man’s sickness will obey you. People do what I say. I follow orders. And the natural world will do whatever you tell it to do. Doesn’t it sound so matter-of-fact when he says this? Just say the word. 32 times in the gospels people were amazed at Jesus. Not this man. The apostles were astonished that Jesus calmed a storm. The people who heard the sermon on the mount were astonished at Jesus’ teachings. The centurion wasn’t acting astonished. I’m not going to be shocked that the Creator of the universe can heal a disease. It’s not surprising that Jesus can walk on water. He’s the boss of it all, He’s the one in charge, And I know, Lord, that if you are willing, you can do this. I know I’m not worthy of it, but if you would please just give the command and he’ll be healed. And that’s when Jesus was amazed. Where’s the Jews in Capernaum who understand this? Why can’t the people of Nazareth understand this? Why are any stories in the Bible about the wonders of God a big deal at all? And heaven’s going to be filled with these kind of people. Luke 7:10-12.

Who are loved, and loving, and humble, and who get the power of God. Lots of people today were raised in churches and Christian homes hearing about the power of God and they reject it. They try to explain away the parts of the Bible that show God’s power as though it would be ridiculous to believe such power can exist. Let’s be careful not to do that because there are people like the centurion who were raised not to believe who are overcoming their biases and opening their eyes to God’s power. And God is marveling at their faith, and He is becoming astonished at our unbelief. Is your faith like the Centurion’s? Then God invites you to the great feast. If it’s not, there is a place of outer darkness where God will not hesitate to cast even the sons of the Kingdom. If you’re ready to astonish the Lord, Acts 22:16.

Galatians 1:8. Tonight we are looking at another major world religion, one of the three major world religions, to understand what it teaches and how it contrasts with Christ. It is a religion that Muhammad claimed he received from an angel he spoke to in a cave around 1400 years ago. In 606 AD, Boniface III officially becomes the first titled “Universal Bishop,” Pope of the Catholic church from Rome. In 670, according to Platina, Pope Vitalia introduced the first organ to church worship. At the same time, In 610 AD, when he was 40 years old, a man named Muhammad Ibne Abdullah visited a cave near his home 765 miles south of Jerusalem and returned with news he had seen an angel. He reported the words of the angel as: In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. 1 Read, in the name of thy Lord! Who creates, 2 creates man from congealed blood! 3 Read, for thy Lord is most generous! 4 Who taught the pen! 5 Taught man what he did not know! 6 Nay, verily, man is indeed outrageous 7 at seeing himself get rich! compare Islam to the religion of Jesus.

Muhammad began preaching this message in his hometown, Mecca, and he called his religion “submission,” or Islam. Some submitted to it (Muslims), but most rejected his preaching. Muhammad’s preaching of one true God was not accepted by his city of idolaters, and he eventually fled for his life to a city 230 miles away called Medina. He was safe there, because he had converted many in that city from his teachings in Mecca.

It wasn’t a generation before this religion exploded into human life around the world. But it’s HOW it spread that concerns so many non-muslims. Jesus and Muhammad Founded Their Religions On Different Principles that caused them to spread quite differently.

The Lord founded His Church on the messages of the Cross, 1 Peter 2:21-25.

There was no violence or retaliation. Isaiah 53:7-10 When someone hurt Him and His followers, He taught Matthew 7:43-45. When His audience proved disobedient, Jesus lamented for them and hoped for them, Matt 23:37.

Islam, in contrast, was founded on the strength of the sword. Initially, Muhammad did not use violence. When he first received his revelations (Galatians 1:8), he preached them in Mecca, calling for people to turn from idols and worship the only one God (the God taught by Abraham, Moses and Jesus, whom he claimed were all Muslims). He also taught against oppression and several forms of immorality. Any violence associated with Islam at first was against him, not by him. It was after he fled for his life to Medina that his religion became a violent one. Muslims were known to raid caravans of traders leaving Mecca, which they defeated and they used the goods to support their families. During one raid, Mecca brought a large army with them, larger by 3 to 1 than the Muslim army, but Mohammad led his troops to victory. This gained him respect. The Meccans tried again and failed to conquer Medina at the battle of the Trench. But in a few years, Mohammad’s army would overwhelm Mecca. He was finally ready for the next great progress in the Muslim religion - take Mecca, destroy its idols and establish it as center of worship for Islam. All of this shows the violent birth of this religion. And it did not expand beyond Medina and Mecca without violence - Muhammad sent letters to neighboring empires inviting them to accept Islam, which they did not.

When Muslims eventually had reason to fight these nations, they would conquer with the sword and allowed citizens a choice - idolaters had three days to convert or die, 9:5.

Jews and Christians could live if they paid an obedience tax called the Jizya, 9:29.

What a contrast to the way Jesus established His church. The Koran is the holy book of the Muslims (meaning recitation). Its teachings clearly contrast the Bible in many ways: The Koran advocates violence when they believe it’s necessary. The favorite verse of Osama Bin Laden, the Twin Tower mastermind, is called “The Verse Of The Sword,” Koran 9:5. It gives permission to kill non-believers. Most Muslims will say this is only for self-defense. There are no “Offensive” wars permitted (and that is good news for us because it means most Muslims aren’t interested in annihalating us). However, what is defined as “defensive warfare” is not a settled matter among Muslims. Bin Laden believed he had permission to fight us because Muslims had been fought against, and had been wronged.

And it’s cowardly not to stand up for your people. Koran 8:15-16.

The Koran also advocates violence against wives, when necessary, 4:34. Many Muslims today try to get around this verse, teaching it was translated wrong in the past (a good thing!).

However, in 2007 in Turkey (a muslim country), 69% of women and 85% of men agreed under some circumstances a husband is justified in beating his wife (such as criticizing a male).

Further, men are also allowed to make slave wives out of conquered people, 4:3.

Contrast these verses from the Koran with the words of Jesus: 9:5 versus Matthew 9:10.

2:194 versus Matthew 5:39-42.

The Koran commands harshness and hate: 3:178 versus 2 Peter 3:15.

The Koran commands harshness and hate: 3:178 versus Matthew 5:45

To Muslims, Heaven Is Full Of Things That Are Wicked On Earth

78:31-33

It is a mystery to some Muslims why such things as are not tolerated on earth will be given to them in their heaven.

And then, sorry to say for you woman . . .

Thess 4:17 sums up the hope of heaven for Christians. Islam is not a religion of Jesus, this is not a religion of God. This is a religion of the sword, of force and coersion, exactly what Paul preached against in Galatians. Worldly methods with worldly hopes. Does this religion draw you? Or are you looking for the teachings of grace and peace? Mercy and righteousness? You can receive righteousness through God’s mercy, since He died for you to make you clean.

Acts 2:38 It made an impression on me when my uncle was baptized a long time ago, when I was really young, and he said to my dad, “I kinda wished I went down into the water and didn’t come back up.” He was communicating how hard it is to be a Christian and his concern that he might be a bad Christian and fall away. I understand that thinking. I think all of us who are Christians are eager for a better life beyond this one. A problem with that thinking is that it minimizes the last part of this verse – “You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Something new started for us when we followed Jesus. A new power joined us to escort us through the difficulties we’re going to face. Maybe we won’t be so pessimistic if we understand the company we keep as we face so many unpleasant things everyday in this life.

Certainly the Holy Spirit doesn’t do all of the things He did for us like He’s done in the past, Like fire coming down from heaven and floating over the apostle’s heads, and causing our brothers and sisters to speak in tongues, Or miraculously whisking us to distant places to preach to seeking souls. But He still does Work. And it’s still powerful.

The first thing God wants us to know about the Holy Spirit, who is given to us, is that He is powerful. The first car I remember my real dad having was a Buick Skylark. He bought it in the Kmart parking lot down the street from our house. It wasn’t in great shape, but it was a muscle car and could go. I saw one in a car show not too long ago back in Alabama. What if that car’s owner turned it on and took it out on the street, and hit the gas, and everyone’s watching and the tires squeal, and he’s going 60 in 3 seconds. And while everyone is in awe of its power, he gets out, hands the keys to you, and says, “Here you go, it’s yours.” This is what we have to imagine about the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The whole day is a display of His power, and then at the end of the day Peter invites people to follow Jesus and receive the gift of that Spirit. The day starts with a city filled to capacity with people everywhere in its streets, thousands and thousands who have come from all over Israel to worship God. And suddenly everyone is startled by the sound of a tornado coming from one of the houses. They rush over to it and find men who look like candles, each having fire resting above their heads. Then the apostles speak. They must have been miraculously loud for all those people to hear. And no matter what language they knew, they heard Peter speaking in their native language. How scared would you be of this scene? I think that would be in the class of the Red Sea Parting. Then Peter explains – this is the Holy Spirit’s power that you’re witnessing, 2:16-17. And He’s angry at your right now, 2:32-36. So the people put 2 and 2 together and realize they’re in trouble, and so in Acts 2:37 they ask Peter, “What shall we do?”

This is when Peter makes the promise in Acts 2:38. What are they thinking about up to this point? The Holy Spirit’s here, and we’ve never seen power like His before. And He’s ready to use that power against us right now. And now Peter’s offering an opportunity to have this great power on our side rather than against us.

How would you like to have the Holy Spirit fighting for you? Well you do, if you follow Jesus. We don’t need to be so scared of this world. The Lord doesn’t leave us on our own. He gives me you, Hebrews 10:25. Jesus promised that He would stay with us until the very end, Matthew 28:20. But mostly it’s the Holy Spirit who takes that responsibility of walking with us. Now I believe there are a lot of abuses of the scriptures about the Holy Spirit’ work. I think a lot of people make Him into a subjective, vague feeling that guides their decisions. “I know the Holy Spirit is telling me to buy 10 lottery tickets tomorrow. Why? I sensed it. That’s not what’s promised in scripture. But all of the error that’s out there does not change the fact that He’s present with us, and we can know and see in certain ways that He’s with us.

There’s a passage in Ephesians, chapter one, that describes the Holy Spirit as our deposit, or our pledge, 1:13-14. Years ago I bought Laura an engagement ring that I bought with the big bucks I made working at KFC. And I hid it in a planner that I owned back then to surprise her with one day, but it was stolen. The next day somebody found that planner in a trash bin, mailed it back to me, and the ring was still in it – the thief never found it. So I put it on her finger, and needless to say it was a special ring. But it was my promise that I was going to marry her, and it was a promise that was tangible, constantly reminding her of what was to come. The Holy Spirit is God’s proof to us that something better is coming. It’s His deposit or pledge to us. So is He tangible? Can we sense Him in any kind of way to know that God has given us a deposit?

Well, the scriptural answer is, yes, we can. We can’t feel Him or see Him or touch Him, but there is a way to know He’s with us. Turn to Galatians 5:16-23, a passage about the Holy Spirit working in our lives. So how do we know the Holy Spirit is with us according to this passage? Well, it’s the Spirit who gets credit for our growth. Wherever you see signs of changes in yourself, when you find a way to love more deeply, or become joyful where there wasn’t joy before, It’s the Spirit responsible for those changes in us. Take a look at another, in 1 Thessalonians 1:6. Here the Holy Spirit is credited with bringing us joy in tribulation. When we learn peace and goodness joy and all of these other godly qualities, it’s the Holy Spirit working in us. And I don’t think He only helps us when the Book’s open. I look back at some important lessons that I have been taught about love, and they came the hard way. They came through difficulty and experience. As we learn and grow and change, we have to credit the Spirit for those things, and see it as a sign of the ring on our finger, that He is there and bringing us along towards greater things. Romans 8:16 says: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God.” How does He do that? When does that communication take place? Well there might be other times, but our transformation is one of those testimonies. And I know that we’re all still very rough and the world is still very much there in us. And God knows that too. He says only liars say they’ve escaped from sin, 1 John 1:8. But you have to be honest about the positive things that are taking place in your heart. You’re here right now. You don’t have to be here. You could have been somewhere else just as easily, but it says something about you that you’re here. And I’ll bet other people who used to know you have said something to you about your transformation. Of course they know you’re not perfect either. But something’s going on there. Give credit where credit is due. And scripturally speaking, it’s not us. We’ve had too much help to take the credit. Galatians 5:22ff.

So He’s with us, helping us, transforming us, guiding us. What’s He doing specifically for us in our daily walk? Number one, He serves as our conscience. John 16:8. We need to be thankful and feel blessed when we feel guilty. Lot’s of people have no clue they did anything wrong. God could just let us think we’re alright. Maybe you need to feel judged. Maybe God wants you to be surrounded by legalistic people because you need to feel convicted. There’s changes you haven’t made it. I need that conscience.

Number two, He sees where we’re weak and gets busy calling for the resources to overcome them. Romans 8:26: In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. (HCSB) We might not even be aware of our needs, but He’s already working behind the scenes to get us the help we need. He doesn’t make us stop sinning, He doesn’t force us to do good, but He’s working for us to fix those things. I think I already see Him bringing people into the lives of my children to provide blessings to them and strengthen them.

Third, He’s the bringer of joy. Acts 9:31. He doesn’t want us to walk miserably through this life. Even since we’ve been here He has encouraged us in so many ways through you and through opportunities to connect with His people and do His work.

Don’t lose sight of the power that God has designed to walk with you and meet your needs. That same power that you saw on Pentecost is with you to get you through this life. 1 Corinthians 3:16. “Do you not know that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

But if you want it, Peter is clear what to do to get Him on your side. Acts 2:38.

Proverbs 31:10-11. Good morning, good to see all of you, and happy father’s day to our godly men. It should be apparent that godly men are an endangered species, just noting the small number of them that we have here, so you are a blessing to your families and this church. On Mother’s Day the sermon came from Proverbs 31 focusing on charm. Today I’d like to take another look at that chapter, this time looking at something that’s going on behind the scenes in this chapter about the virtuous woman.

There’s a man in this chapter buoyed by this godly woman. And without his support, she and her family could not have been the model of virtue depicted here. We’re told in Proverbs 31:1 that this chapter was written by a king named Lemuel based on his mother’s wisdom. I wonder if she really wanted him to understand what he needed to do if he wanted this kind of family. The husband is mentioned throughout the text, in verse 11, 12, 15, 21, 23, 27, 28, and 29. but his influence is seen in other verses as well. And I’d like to share with you 7 things we see him doing in this scripture that helps encourage and strengthen her into this virtuous woman.

Number 1. He appreciates her wisdom. Lemuel appreciates his mother’s wisdom from the first verse of the chapter: Proverbs 31:1. And then men honor the wisdom of virtuous wives further down in v. 26. Proverbs 31:26. I know husbands who fail to honor their wife’s wisdom because she is a more emotional being than he is. That’s not Biblical. Godly men honor the wisdom of the women in their lives.

Second, and in conjunction with the first, the man behind an excellent wife has confidence in her. Proverbs 31:11. The rest of the passage explains why he has confidence in her – She’s not being wasteful, she’s not finding ways to hurt him. She’s a blessing to the household. The wives of godly men know their husbands have confidence in them. I think even Christian husbands can be harsh with their wives, to the point where they feel like they can’t do anything right. The Bible even has to warn us in Colossians 3:19 . . . That word “embittered” means “sharp, piercing.” Shannen had a boyfriend in Alabama who teased her about her driving. I don’t even like that. Godly husbands are careful about this. I also think about the scripture in Ephesians 6:4 which warns fathers not to exasperate or be too hard on their children. The family of Godly men know he believes in them – both his wife and his children.

Number three. The man behind the excellent wife is welcoming of what she brings into the home. Proverbs 31:12-14. How many husbands constantly get upset when their wives bring stuff home? Or at the very least don’t encourage it? I repent before you. We have a neighbor who is constantly setting out really nice stuff in their driveway to give away. I’m not as excited about free stuff as Laura is sometimes. But how do you imagine this husband receiving the work of his wife? When she finds something or bargains for something? He’s not bitter, he appreciates her. He’s not teasing or criticizing, he’s encouraging. He’s proud of her. He welcomes the good that she brings.

Number 4. The husband who has an excellent wife gives her freedom to be an entrepreneur. Proverbs 31:16-18. Again, and maybe this is changing, but some men don’t have a whole lot of confidence in their wife’s ability to do these kind of things. 3,000 years ago when Proverbs was written, women of God were busy. Buying land, running business endeavors. And their godly husbands were supportive. I think Laura has done lots of this kind of thing over the years. From starting a coop in Alabama that’s grown into a huge entity, to being in the middle of anything political. The point is that husbands need to encourage their wives in these kinds of things. Their whole family should be supported in their endeavors.

Number 5. He allows her to be generous to others. Proverbs 31:20. It seems like often women are more tender-hearted than men. That should always be encouraged. I think some husbands can really make their wives feel foolish for being generous to needy people, like they got swindled. Godly men are careful about this. They appreciate their wives’ efforts to help needy people.

Number 6. The husband of an excellent wife is a leader beyond the walls of his home. Proverbs 31:23. When Lemuel writes this verse, remember that he’s still extolling the woman here. So she has something to do with his reputation as a leader in the community. Maybe Lemuel means that she is really supportive, or she supplies him with everything he needs to be a leader, or she does a lot of tasks so that he doesn’t have to worry about other things and can focus on his community. Whatever it is, she has a role in his leadership. But of course so does he. He’s out being a leader. He’s not hiding at home. Some of you men are excellent at getting out to the gate. You are known in your communities as servants and leaders. But we can do better. And if we want excellent wives and families, we need to do things that give them credibility. We need to step out of the house and be a leader.

Finally, the husband of an excellent wife praises and honors her. Proverbs 31:28-31. Now I bet this man’s wife had some flaws. I don’t know what they were. Some things she did probably annoyed or irritated him, that’s the nature of relationships. But he didn’t key in on the flaws. And the children are honoring her as well. I believe a husband plays a critical role in the way children treat their mother. If he’s critical or negative, they’re going to be. I suspect this man had a lot to do with the words of his children. Together the whole family saw everything this woman was doing for her family and praised her for it. And not only did they tell her their appreciation, but they let other people know as well through their honor, Proverbs 31:31.

This woman’s virtue is assisted by a man who: Believes in her wisdom. Has confidence in her. Is thankful for the things she brings into the home. Gives her freedom to be successful. Encourages her generosity. Pursues leadership outside of the home, in the church and the community. And praises and honors her. Behind a virtuous woman is an excellent husband. We husbands need to do our part to honor and build up our families so that they can be recognized by others for their excellence. Mark 16:16

This morning we’ll be talking about a very controversial teaching, so I’ll ask you to consider carefully the scriptures that I’m presenting and study carefully what the Bible has to say about the subject to make certain for yourself that you understand God’s truth about it. So many churches and Bible teachers believe that once a person becomes saved by God they can never be lost. Catholic teaching falls in the middle – they divide sins between mortal and venial sins. Mortal sins separate a person from God but venial sins don’t. I believe the Bible teaches that we can fall away if we sin, and that salvation involves us staying in the light and depending on God’s forgiveness as we remain persistent in our efforts to be children of God. Which is the message of 1 John chapter 1.

1 John 1:7-10. The biggest problem for me believing once saved always saved is that there are so many verses opposing it. See what you think about these:

Look at Exodus 32:33. Moses is arguing and pleading with God so that He won’t destroy Israel after they made the golden calf. And he sticks his neck out for the people. He says: Exodus 32:32. But God says: Exodus 32:33. So first of all, how did their names get into the book of life? How does anybody? They get saved, right? Saved people can get their name blotted out of God’s book by sinning.

Even in the New Testament, God threatens to blot out those who are quitting on Him, Rev 3:1-5. This promise is for those who overcome, not for the ones who do not overcome. For them, their names will be blotted out.

Here’s another one that sounds like it opposes once saved always saved. Turn to John 15. John 15:1-3. We are branches, the Lord is the vine. And we’re expected to be fruitful branches. So what if we’re not? Then we get removed. Would you want to be removed from the Lord? What do you think that means?

Paul uses a similar metaphor in the book of Romans to show that, not only can a person be added to the vine, and then taken away, they can also be added back in again! Paul tells us he’s referring to Israel as the original olive tree. And they were a beautiful tree, honored by God. But then they started dying. So God started cutting of its branches. What do you think that means? And then the Lord grafted new branches to the tree, which Paul indicates are Gentiles being added. Romans 11:17-18, 21. What does it mean that he broke off branches? That they were His people, but He cut them off. And who’s added on? Other non-Jews who became saved. But what if they start acting wickedly? They’re gone as well.

The entire book of Hebrews focuses on the need for Christians to persevere and not give up. Take a look at chapter two. After teaching about the greatness of Jesus Christ in chapter one, chapter two says . . . Hebrews 2:1-3 3:5-6 makes our being part of Christ’s household conditional . . . 4:1 makes avoiding drifting a condition of entering his rest. 10:26-31 promises we’ll avoid judgment if we can stay strong. So what is all of this in the Bible about being blotted out from God’s book of life, and being cut off the vine for not bearing fruit, and these warnings not to drift? It must be that we can fall from the Lord if we’re not committed like we ought to be.

Can we fall from grace? Take a look at Galatians 5:4.

What does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 9:27? He’s so determined to remain disciplined because he doesn’t want to be disqualified.

And then finally there’s the passage that indicated to me in my younger days that it must be possible for people to fall away from God and go to hell even after becoming Christians. James says in chapter 5, James 5:19-20. What does it mean to wander from the truth? That you were at the truth and then you left it. And what happens if you turn back someone who has wandered? You save their souls from death. What if you don’t turn them back? You don’t save their souls from death. How bad is it for our souls do die? It’s everything. It’s what we’re all trying to avoid. It is possible that we can be lost after becoming a Christian.

So why do so many people believe in once saved always saved? Well, I’m sure there are a lot of reasons. One reason is probably that it’s comforting. Nobody wants to think that sometimes we’re saved and sometimes we’re not. Maybe another reason is that some people don’t want to be fully Christians, and they want to do whatever they please and still go to heaven. I think with a lot of people it’s because they see in the Bible that God provides care and security for His people, And it’s hard to imagine that He’d ever let us go after reading some of those verses.

Like John 10, in this passage where Jesus talks about guarding His sheep. He’s not going to let anything happen to them: John 10:26-29. But the passage still leaves room for sheep to wander away if they choose. If you want the Lord’s protection, don’t wander away from Him.

There’s another beautiful scripture in Romans 8:35-39? We worry that the devil is going to snatch us away. But God says, there’s no way anybody can get to you. You just try to take one of my kids away from me. When Brett was little, I used to say, “Brett, do you know why I love you? And he’d say, because you’re my son! Well yeah, that’s right. We’re God’s children! He will do just what you would do for your children to protect them! But what if they decide to leave the way you taught them to be? Are you going to lock them up in the closet when they’re 25? People decide to leave sometimes. And what happens to them? They’re blotted out, cut off, fallen from grace, disqualified, their soul is not saved from death. However you want to say it, they’re in trouble. And the greatest tragedy is they were right there in the safest place in the world and they went outside. So stupid.

Some brethren are drifting the wrong way. If you’re not where you need to be, then the scriptures in Hebrews are for you: Heb 2:1Heb 3:12-13Heb 4:11 You can be assured salvation if you’re walking in the light. You can be assured that God will care for His sheep, even through their weaknesses and struggles. But there’s not much He can do for the quitters and the spiritually lazy.

I n Mark 16:15, Jesus said. I’d like you to think about what a tall order that was for the apostles. The gospel needed to get out because, number one, John 12:48 says . . . And number two, people just needed to learn about their God.

The gospel started here, in Jerusalem. And then it spread into the rest of Judea, so we can understand that. And the Samaritan areas. OK, good. But there are people living down here in Africa. I wonder how long it took to get the word down there! (answer – not long, Eunuch, Egyptian manuscripts).

But it also had to get way over here into Europe, into italyand spain. And then somehow it had to get over to the people living in Asia, China and the Philippines. But then what about the Aborigines in Africa? I’m certain that if some there had the heart of the Eunuch, they would be a priority for God and someone would get them the gospel. And what about our country? That’s what I’d like to talk about tonight. Who were the Native Americans, and where did they come from and what did they believe? Some time back their ancestors knew the true God. Let’s see what we can learn.

There are many theories about how they got here, but we know a couple of things. They were not there before the flood. So then we also know they are descended from either Shem, Ham, or Japheth. Ever since genetics became easier for scientists to investigate, studies have been done on Native Americans to determine their origins, and those studies match what people have long thought (which might mean it’s wrong). It seems most genetic tests make Native Americans most closely related to people in the Siberian region of the world, having migrated the 58 miles across Russia into Alaska (Across the Bering Strait) then working their way down. If that’s true, then Native Americans are of Asian descent. But some Linguists are finding a connection between the ancient Mayan language ( Olmecs) and Africa, which traces them back to Ham (Psalm 105:23, Genesis 10:6ff). So it’s not settled where they came from.

What is settled is they’ve been here a long time. Here is a canoe that was recently discovered in the Ocala National Forest in Florida.

And here is something fascinating to me, that I don’t remember learning in my history class: This structure is from a city called Tikal, one of the most powerful cities of the ancient Maya. And it was at its peak power from 200-900 AD. And there’s a lot of written history about it. We have recorded the names of their kings from way back; YakEhb ’ Xook was also known asYax MochXok, Yax Chakte'lXok, First Scaffold Shark. So when did these people get here? I suppose the gospel had to come to them, and I suppose it must have at some point, Colossians 1:23.

Before we get to a really important question, I want to show you some of the beliefs of the ancient Native Americans. There are a couple of important lessons to learn from their beliefs. First, there is nothing new under the sun. Mankind, even in the remotest parts of the earth, all seem to come to the same conclusions about things, no matter how much they are separated by language, time and custom. Second, even though their religions are ancient, tracing back before Christ and into the Patriarchal days of earth’s history, there are still semblances of true religion in them. And you’d expect that.

Here is a prayer from a Lakota Chief from the 1800’s, just to give you a sense of the religion of the Lakotas.

A Couple of things about ancient Native american religion: First, at the time of European contact, all but the simplest indigenous cultures in North America had developed coherent religious systems that included cosmologies—creation myths, transmitted orally from one generation to the next, which purported to explain how those societies had come into being. Second, most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator or “Master Spirit” (a being that assumed a variety of forms and both genders). They also venerated or placated a host of lesser supernatural entities, including an evil god who dealt out disaster, suffering, and death. Third and finally, the members of most tribes believed in the immortality of the human soul and an afterlife, the main feature of which was the abundance of every good thing that made earthly life secure and pleasant. (Department of history, University of Delaware). This included the belief in hell. The hells of the Americas include the Aztec religion 's “ Mictlan ”, Inuit religion 's “ Adlivun ”, and the Yanomami religion's “ Shobari Waka ”. In Mayan religion, Xibalbáis the dangerous underworld of nine levels ruled by the demons Vucub Caquixand Hun Came. The road into and out of it is said to be steep, thorny and very forbidding. Metnal is the lowest and most horrible of the nine Hells of the underworld, ruled byAh Puch.

There are other similarities between Biblical truths and Native American religion as well:

There are other similarities between Biblical truths and Native American religion as well:

There are other similarities between Biblical truths and Native American religion as well:

There are other similarities between Biblical truths and Native American religion as well:

Dakotas shared a special bond with the buffalo.

Dakotas shared a special bond with the buffalo.

Let’s conclude with a couple of really important questions this study brings out. First, it’s popular today to have respect for native american religion. Many people like it because they find beliefs in common with their own sometimes. Some research suggests that certain tribes believed in and accepted people who had two-spirits – male and female. That would be effeminate males or masculine females. This was primarily in tribes among the Plains, the Great Lakes, the Southwest, and California. You can imagine this is good news to people who believe that homosexuality is a good thing. The mystical, emotional, experiential aspect of many native american religions is popular as well. You don’t study. You don’t seek truth. You feel. You experience. People like that. But what does God think? Was He pleased? And the answer must be no. Because all truth is found in Christ. As you can see, Native americans got many things right. But they did not have Christ. Well then how could they be saved if God never got to them? And this is a hard question. I don’t fully know the answer to this question because I don’t know how God works. BUT . . . I know lots of people just accept that Native Americans, people in the Amazon, people in places who don’t know Christ, are OK because it’s not their fault. And that’s not Biblical either.

Some people turn to Romans 2, which they believe shows that as long as such people act according to their conscience, they’re OK, 2:13-16. But it’s a lot to get out of that verse that people who don’t have God’s Law but live conscientiously will be saved. Verse 12 says that all who sin without the law perish without the law, so I guess one sin and they’re out. Again, I don’t know how God works, but I know that He knows hearts, and He gets the gospel to good-hearted people. See the Macedonian call in Acts 16. See Cornelius in Acts 10 and Paul in Acts 9 and the Eunuch in Acts 8. Where there are ears to hear, they will hear. Where there are people who seek, they will find. And that makes more sense to me. And I don’t know why God saw fit to allow all of those nations to be conquered, but they were, and their religions are nearly completely wiped out today.

People likely lived in America from before Christ. But I learned a long time ago that witnesses got the gospel spread to even the remotest parts of the earth, Acts 1:8. Do you have faith in God’s word? Or is this a challenge to you?

Good morning.

In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul tells Timothy . . . 1 Timothy 5:23

Tonight I’d like to talk for a few minutes about God’s views on medicine. Some Christians might not have thought about the fact that God takes an interest in our pharmacology, in the substances that we put in our bodies. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Timothy was not taking good enough care of himself. He was only drinking water, perhaps because he didn’t want to cause anyone to stumble by drinking wine. But we do have a God-given responsibility to see to our health, and Timothy was not doing enough.

The apostle prays in 3 John 1:2 . . . God wants us to be healthy, and sometimes that means taking medicine.

But on the other hand, God says that we can be too reliant on doctors and medication for our health, displaying a lack of faith in God, Which was the sin of Asa, according to 2 Chronicles 16:12. 2 Chronicles 16:12.

So in today’s medicine-crazed society, what is godliness, as it pertains to medication? When are we under-caring for ourselves, and when are we misusing?

I’d like to share three lessons from the Bible about the proper use of medications: To care for the body, not misusing them as drugs, and being wise in our choices of medications.

So first, God wants us to use medicines as part of the routine of taking care of ourselves, as we saw in Timothy. And we see throughout the Bible an emphasis places on medicines and health and God teaching important spiritual lessons from medicine, which is evidence that God is for them, that He’s given them to us for our well-beings. The famous balm that was produced in Gilead for skin and wound care, mentioned in Jeremiah 8:22. The mandrakes that Rachel and Leah fought about in Genesis 30:14, which was a fertility drug. Caperberrys were an aphrodisiac, Ecclesiastes 12:5 Anise is mentioned in Matthew 23:23 as an herb that the scribes and pharisees tithed. Drugs.com says it is used for bloating and coughs. Rue and cumin mentioned there also have medicinal properties. As does frankincense (salve for wounds) and myrrh (which was used by the ancients for an antiseptic, an analgesic, hemorrhoids, and halitosis. There was a drink offered to Jesus on the cross to numb His pain, which He refused. Bible people also used soap, and don’t forget about the oil and wine that the good Samaritan used on the man who had been robbed and beaten. And of course Bible people had midwives (Exodus 1), and doctors (Luke). So they had medicines for just about everything back then, like we do today. Ours is different, but the principle is that God wants us to use them to care for ourselves. He even gave the Jews, from what I understand, a revolutionary lifestyle and diet focused on cleanliness and health and eating the right things in the right amounts. Let’s use all of the tools God has given us for our health.

But there certainly are some “Thou Shall Nots” when it comes to medicine. In Galatians 5:19-21, the Bible lists a number of sins that will keep us out of the Kingdom of God, and among them is a sin called “sorcery.” Galatians 5:20.

And that word sorcery is translated from the Greek word pharmaki, which sounds a lot like pharmacy, doesn’t it? Vines says "In sorcery, the use of drugs, whether simple or potent, was generally accompanied by incantations and appeals to occult powers, with the provision of various charms, amulets, etc., professedly designed to keep the applicant or patient from the attention and power of demons, but actually to impress the applicant with the mysterious resources and powers of the sorcerer.“ As one preacher put it, Sorcerers were the 21st century drug dealers. Elymas and Simon the Sorcerer were the Bible drug dealers. We think that all of our street drugs are new to us, but they’ve been around since way back. Marijuana goes at least as far back as the ancient Assyrians. The Babylonians produced Opium. Those kind of drugs are not new to us, and in the Bible they are associated with the sin of sorcery.

I think we understand that God condemns drug use. By condemning sorcery ( pharmakeia), By condemning drunkenness, which is using medications for drug use, By condemning breaking the laws of our government, if we needed more motivation to stay away from illegal drug use, Romans 13. And He condemns our alcohol consumption as well.

Did you know there were three ways that Bible people used alcohol back in their day? Tell me which of these is the reason people use it today: They used it as a thirst-quenching beverage. If the kids got thirsty, you give them a big glass of wine. Now of course they had to be careful how they prepared it so they didn’t get their kids drunk, but the kids loved it: Kids in Jerusalem asked for it as the city was being attacked, They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. (Lamentations 2:12). Second, it was used as a medicine as we saw in Timothy, 1 Timothy 5:23. And then third, it was used as a drug. To make people relax, forget their cares for a moment, as an escape, to calm down. Proverbs 23:31-32 warns: Proverbs 23:31-32. So how are we using alcohol today?

So use medicines to help care for the body, Do not use them as drugs, as people have done for thousands of years, that provide us an escape from our lives or use them illegally. And then finally be wise in the choice of medications.

And I mainly have in mind medicines that are used for pain or for mental health, like depression and anxiety. But these principles can apply more broadly as well. Be wise means that there are legitimate reasons to use these kind of medicines, but caution needs to be exercised. And it doesn’t take too long talking to people in a community mental health clinic or in pain clinics to see their need today. You see in the clinic people who have experienced terrible trauma, you see mental health problems running in their families, a lot of them come from horrific family backgrounds and childhoods. All of these medicines are designed to make the brain release chemicals it has available or keep it from releasing other chemicals to numb pain. So they mimic natural processes. Jogging and exercise release the same chemicals.

But there can also be dangers with taking these kind of medications that would not be a godly way of using them. For example, there might be some spiritual growth that’s needed to overcome depression and anxiety. And God talks about that. Philippians 4:6. We may be too fixated on what might happen. We might be more worried about some bad possibilities than we are about trusting God and doing the right thing now. Philippians 4:8. We might be overly and unfairly critical of ourselves, even though God believes we are capable and is not ashamed to be called our God. We might be too focused on our past failures even though we have been forgiven and God has forgotten. But we can’t seem to believe that God uses our mistakes can causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him. We might be more focused on what we’ve lost than on our future hope, or on the ways God hopes to use us in our current life. Colossians 3:2-4. And I’m not trying to minimize loss. I don’t think God minimized Job’s losses. David was distraught over the loss of Absalom, and his newborn child. But God wants us to find our rejoicing in Him and trust Him. So we need to explore why we need them.

Another danger is that we can become dependent on them. Which is very unhealthy both physically and spiritually. God does not want anything to be Master over us, 1 Corinthians 6:12.

Finally, the last danger is not taking them when we need them. There are some people who are so depressed they’re suicidal. They need some medicine. There are some people who have problems that severely affect their families when they’re not on medicine, and it’s unselfish for them to stop taking it.

I don’t know why Paul told Timothy to start drinking a little wine for his ailments. Was Timothy starting to get badly sick and not able to do his work? Was Paul just concerned? Were other people worried about him? But whatever the reason, He needed to get back to taking care of himself. And so do we, but in a godly way. And we’ll be judged for the decisions that we make about what we put in our bodies and what we decide not to put in there. We’ve got a lot of tough choices to make. But beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. We are so careful about our bodies. We want them to feel good. We’re scared when we’re unhealthy. How much of that same concern do you have about the part of you that will outlast your body? How healthy is your soul? 22 "Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God.

Good morning.

2 Peter 1:5-8. Of all the virtues listed in 2 Pete 1:5-8, brotherly love might be the oldest. You might remember Cain’s response to God when questioned about Abel – “Am I my brother’s keeper?” He might have been making fun of Abel for keeping animals since Cain had nothing to do with them, but yes he should have been Abel’s keeper. Nowhere in the Bible is the word brother used more than in the book of Genesis, where I counted 178 times it was mentioned. Brotherly kindness has been God’s expectation of us from the beginning. But it’s fitting that the word shows up near the end of the list of virtues because the Bible makes clear that it’s what being a Christian is designed to do to us.

1 Peter 1:22 says. So why did we become Christians? And what was the purpose of our obeying the truth? And why did we become born again? Well, it was to achieve this virtue. This is maybe the first virtue in the Biblical timeline, and it’s also the end result of our Christian journey.

And it’s the evidence that we need for ourselves to prove to ourselves we are saved. 1 John 3:14 says.

And . . . (Read).

It’s important, then, that we understand how to add this virtue to our faith. So what is it exactly, and how do we practice it?

The Greek word translated brotherly kindness in 2 Peter 1:7 is the word Philadelphia. It’s the name of an important city in our country, which was chosen by a Quaker named William Penn. Originally in the Greek it was not a very nice word. It was created to make fun of a Greek Queen named Arsinoe who married her brother Ptolemaios around 280 B.C. Ptolemaios was one of four men given part of the Greek Kingdom after Alexander the Great died. People back then were repulsed by a brother and sister marrying and started calling them sibling lovers. But then 50 years later the word took a positive turn when a King named Eumenes named a city Philadelphia to honor his brother Attalos. You can read about that city in the Bible, in Revelation chapter 3. For the Greek people it was originally a family love, but then its meaning expanded to mean a friendship love. In our Bibles what you see is this word consistently referring to love between Christians. It’s always a matter of how we are loving the rest of God’s people.

Brotherly kindness is not the same as agape. Agape is the love we give to all people whether we like them or not. Brotherly kindness is a love that we only share with the people who are close to us. We agape people because we see they are important and valuable, But we phileo people because we enjoy them and want to be with them. Agape love is not always rewarding. I think we’ve all found it to be costly from time to time. But phileo love is beneficial to us and the people we love. There is joy and reward in brotherly kindness.

We could argue that phileo is the great form of love. Do you remember at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 that love is exalted as the greatest virtue? 1 Corinthians 13:13. It’s the greatest because it will continue to abide after there no longer is a need for faith and hope. We won’t need faith and hope in heaven, will we? But love will continue. What kind of love will exist in heaven? We won’t have any enemies there. There won’t be any wickedness. Only God’s family will remain. This is a love we need to learn because we’ll have to practice it for the rest of eternity. So how are we to practice brotherly kindness?

First, genuinely like your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Romans 12 verse 9 says . . . Romans 12:9-10. Our love for each other must be sincere. I’m not pretending to like you. When I shake your hand or share a laugh or have a serious conversation with you, it’s because I enjoy your company. And I’m not going home talking bad things about your behind your back because I really do like you. And if we don’t really like some other Christian, that’s a huge problem. Because it means we don’t yet have a grasp on brotherly love. And that means we’re not yet where God wants us to be.

Do you remember that our love for the brethren is how we know we’ve passed from death to life?

So let’s sincerely love each other. Be devoted to one another. You might try to walk away but I’m coming after you. I have some work to do here. Honor one another above yourselves. Who’s the lowest among us to you? Who’s got the furthest to go? Who’s the least talented? In what way have you honored that person above yourself? What have we told them, what have we given them to make sure they know how much we honor them? They are special and deserve our honor. Now part of our sincere love for brethren is not liking it when they’re evil. Romans 12:9a. Their faith is why we like them, and so it would not be genuine of us to be drawn to the part of them that’s evil.

When Aristotle talked about brotherly love, he emphasized that it’s a love shared between two people who are the same. They like the same things, share the same interests, and they share a desire for goodness. I love this quote (read) -

Sincerely love your brother. Don’t be fake about it. Don’t pretend to like the bad things about them. Really, sincerely, genuinely like them.

Second, let your brothers and sisters invade your space and your life.

1 Peter 4:7-11. We love each other deeply, I think because if we don’t we let each other’s sins get to us. If I really love you, you can annoy me or make me angry and I can tolerate it. But if I don’t love you deeply, I will key in on your flaws and use them against you. Do we welcome intrusiveness from our brothers and sisters? Am I welcome into your life? If not, we might be missing brotherly love. Finally, let’s use our gifts to serve each other. Because brotherly love means we are actively intruding into each other’s lives.

Finally, constantly expand our list of brothers that we worry about.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 says. The Thessalonians had already shown love towards their neighboring brothers in the cities around them. But they now need to expand that out further. I have work to do here. We are to be people who care what’s going on with Christians in places beyond our local work. We should have a heart for Christians around the country and in other parts of the world. We should be constantly making new Christian friends and contacts, and it’s so difficult when we are consumed by our own lives here.

Peter charges us to love the brotherhood in 1 Peter 2:17. Love the whole thing everywhere. Love all of them. That can be a challenge. Partly because we don’t always like what’s going on the brotherhood. We might not even like the brotherhood sometimes for various reasons. Maybe we think they’re moving in the wrong direction, or are close-minded, or they won’t stand up like they should. It doesn’t matter. We are to constantly expand our affection to enjoy all of them.

Hebrews 13:1-3 says . . . When was the last time we remembered our mistreated brothers as though we are being mistreated with them? I don’t know where that’s going on. I don’t want to know. I don’t want the burden of worrying about them.

I need to work more on expanding the world of my brotherly kindness if I’m going to be pleasing to God.

Because I have to get brotherly love right if I’m going to claim to be a child of God.

Have you added brotherly kindness to your faith? Have you learned to genuinely like us, are you welcoming us into your lives and your homes, are you working to be more concerned for the brotherhood at large? I’m so thankful there are so many in the brotherhood who have this genuine affection for me. How would you like to be a part of such a family? You will not only be loved, you will be enjoyed. It is a family of people who understand how to be welcoming. Take the step to enter into Christ this morning.

Good morning.

2 Peter 1:5-8. We’ve been studying the virtues that God prioritizes for us in this passage, having already considered virtue, knowledge, self-control and perseverance. This morning we’re talking about godliness. And godliness is not like the other virtues, where we actually think we need work. Nobody says, “You know where I really need to grow? In godliness.” Nobody picks than one. We’ll pick knowledge for sure. I need to study more. Self-control or self-discipline. If only we can get more disciplined we’ll be such better Christians. Some might say they need to be more loving. But not godliness. I hope you do say “godliness” by the end of this morning’s lesson. It’s where I need to grow.

So what is godliness? Godliness is an awareness of God. He’s right there. He shares our lives with us, and we know He’s there and it makes us feel and act a certain way. I think it might look something like this. This is Daniel after being thrown into the lion’s den in Babylon. In this drawing, I see several hungry lions. What’s Daniel doing while in the room with these lions? It looks like he’s praying. Now if I were in there, I’d probably be praying too, but in the other direction. I’d be pretty worried about the lions. It would be hard for me to concentrate on my prayer. But I imagine Daniel having this kind of focus and spiritual demeanor throughout his life, don’t you? When he was taken away from his family as a teenager by the Babylonians, his mind wasn’t focused back home on all the things he lost, and he wasn’t focused on all of the what-if’s. I’m sure he thought about those things, but he was thinking about God. What does He have in store for me? How am I supposed to act during this test? When he was presented food in Babylon, his first thought was, “Is this something God would want me to eat?” And later when it became illegal for people to pray to God in his country, he thought about how God would want him to handle it. He decided to pray with his window open so everybody could see him. This is godliness, when we’re staying connected towards God throughout our lives.

The Greek word for godliness is eusebius. Which like many Greek words is a compound word. The “ seb ” part of the word means to keep your distance from something that you fear or respect, to be in awe. And “ eu ” means to be full of something. So full of awe. And you’ll often see eusebius translated as “pious” because it has to do with how we live.

So if what we did was done with the fear of God in our minds when we did it or decided it, then we were being godly.

Godliness is living in a way that reflects a fulness of awe in God. So we constantly have God on our minds as we’re facing situations and making decisions.

Godliness is when we’re being tempted, like Joseph was by Potipher’s wife, and we decide not to give into the temptation, not because we’re worried about the consequences of our sin or because we want to be a good person or any reason that focuses down here, But because we’re worried about disappointing the one who is always on our mind. Genesis 39:9.

Godliness is when we are good workers and obey the people who are over us, not because we want to impress them or further our careers, But because we know God’s watching us and we want Him to be proud of us. Ephesians 6:6-7.

Godliness is when we have all these great plans for our lives, but we acknowledge that God might have other plans for us. And so we always concede our plans for our lives to Him. James 4:15.

Godliness is when we’re always aware of God’s presence in our lives, and our decisions reflect that.

So how do we grow in that? How do we add godliness to our faith? Let me suggest two ways:

Find Him in more places around us. When Matthew 5:8 says that the pure in heart will see God, I don’t believe that’s just talking about some day down the road. God’s people see Him everywhere around Him. We can train ourselves to do that.

When we see something beautiful, we train ourselves to credit God’s hand for it. I love hearing about beautiful things that people do. I read a true story about a terrible accident where a young man was driving his car past a restaurant in a small town. He looked down for just a minute to adjust his radio, and when he looked up there was an older man crossing the road in front him, and he hit him and killed him. The man’s whole family happened to be at the restaurant with him, including his wife of 50 years, who of course came running out to attend to her husband. The young man, being in shock, sat down on the opposite curve sobbing. And somehow the wife noticed this in her grief, and went and sat down next to that young man, and hugged him, and said, “It’s OK. Don’t you worry about me. We have 50 wonderful years together.” That’s the kind of beauty that helps me to see God.

The Bible teaches to train our vision to focus in on such good things, when it says in Matthew 6:22 that the lamp of the body is the eye, capable of filling the whole body with light or darkness.

So first we train ourselves to see God several times a day. Whether it’s in the heavens that are declaring His glory, or in the beauty of people, or in the beauty of the Word of God. And allow ourselves to become more in awe of Him. And then secondly we add more godliness to our lives by making God more a part of all of our decisions. Where are you going to go eat after this? Why? Who’s going with you? What would God want you to do this afternoon? That’s how godly people think.

In every decision and situation, we’re always imagining God watching our decisions and we’re hoping that He’s happy with the ones that we made. When it comes to the way we choose to work and our interaction with people every day. The way we deal with our neighbors. The things we buy. The people we date. How we’re treating our family. How we’re using our social influence. What we put into His church. The more we find ourselves thinking about God and how He perceives our decisions, the more we have added godliness to our lives.

Do you feel like godliness is an area where you can grow? I think we all can add more godliness to our faith. Have you added obedience to your faith? James says that faith without works is dead. God commands that belief is followed by repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. If you haven’t yet been baptized into Christ, you are still in your sins.

Good morning.

Some years back the last verse in the song By Christ Redeemed struck a nerve with me. It says . . . There’s a chain of Sundays starting from today that lead all the way back to the beginning of Christianity. What we’re doing today has an origin, and when Christians first started doing their Sunday meetings they set the precedent of memorializing the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

To illustrate further, in this picture you see a boy hanging by a rope. But you don’t see the origin of that rope. Do you think there’s something substantial on the other end of that rope? Well obviously. Ropes don’t hang from nothing. And the fact that we’re honoring the resurrection today in 2021 should give us confidence that our faith can be traced back to an empty tomb over 2000 years ago.

When the first Christians gave reason for believing in Jesus, they didn’t talk about how great Jesus’ ideas were. Or how awesome a leader He was, or the wisdom within His philosophies. They believed in Him because He died on a cross and then raised from the dead. They agreed with Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 12-19

Today the world is celebrating Easter, the day Jesus raised from the dead. Because this is the time of the year that the Jews have always celebrated Passover, which is when the Bible says Jesus died and rose. Let me show you this morning why we can have confidence that it truly happened.

First, because our Bible can be traced all the way back and shown to be trustworthy. We still have copies of Bibles from 1611, here’s the title page of the original King James Bible.

Here is a Bible from 1526, translated by a man named William Tyndale into English.

And then here’s a page from a really early English Bible translated by a man named John Wycliffe back in 1382. But what was John Wycliffe copying to make his version of the Bible? Well, there weren’t any English Bibles before him but there were plenty of Bibles in other languages that he could draw from for his translation, including in the original languages.

Here’s the earliest copy of the Latin Vulgate Bible, dated to the 700s A.D. The Latin Vulgate was first translated by Jerome in the 300s AD.

Here’s a page from a Bible that has survived from the 300s AD, called the Codex Sinaiticus.

This is a part of the Bodmer Papyrii, from 150-200 AD, 50 years after the Bible was completed. Some people believe the Bible is a copy of a copy of a copy, and that’s not true. We still have Bibles and pieces of Bibles that were written at a time when there were still people living who personally knew the apostles.

With the last advent we unite by one bright chain of loving rite until He comes. What we do on Sundays was started by people who believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Bible we use traces back to people who believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

By the same people who created the Christian culture, who taught us to tell the truth no matter how severe the consequences might be for doing so: (read) They saw what they saw and heard what they heard and testified about it from their integrity.

Finally, even people who don’t believe in the intregrity of our forefathers Accept that Jesus was a real person and died on the cross. They have to because even non-Christians throughout history talk about Jesus. Lawrence Mykytiuk, an associate professor of library science at Purdue University and author of a 2015 Biblical Archaeology Review article on the extra-biblical evidence of Jesus, notes that there was no debate about the issue in ancient times either. “Jewish rabbis who did not like Jesus or his followers accused him of being a magician and leading people astray,” he says, “but they never said he didn’t exist.”

And many people might have denied that Jesus rose from the dead, but lots of people who share our moral values believed that He arose and appeared to them. Like we saw in 1 Corinthians 15. I think it’s mostly accepted that they believed He arose. I appreciate New Testament scholar Paul Fredrickson, who is not a Christian, saying: I know in their own terms what they saw was the raised Jesus. That’s what they say, and then all the historic evidence we have afterwards attest to their conviction that that’s what they saw. I’m not saying that they really did see the raised Jesus. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what they saw. But I do know that as a historian that they must have seen something.

Justin Bass writes:

Some of them believed it against their will, like Paul, who hated Christians and used to persecute them, and then began believing in Jesus, and turned the world upside down with this teaching.

Even Jesus’ brother James turned from unbeliever to believer.

And these people didn’t just believe Jesus raised from the dead. That belief changed their lives. Many of them suffered and died for it. And they taught us to live principled, loving lives, sacrificing everything for the sake of Jesus. People become Christians because of the truth of the resurrection. It’s what converted the apostles, when they saw the risen Lord standing before them. It’s what converted the people on Pentecost – 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. It’s the message of Acts 3 and 4 and throughout Acts, it’s the message that spread the gospel across the world. And for nearly the last 2000 years Churches have continued to attest to this event every Sunday. Pointing back to the events that changed the world in the days of Jesus, And pointing ahead to a day that’s coming when all of the dead will be raised to stand before Jesus and give an account of their lives to Him.

If you believe in the resurrection, you can join generations of Christians in rejecting the world and setting your hope on new life by being baptized into Christ this morning. Romans 6:3-4.

Good morning.

2 Peter 1, beginning in verse 5, exhorts us to give all diligence to add to our faith virtue, to our virtue knowledge, to our knowledge self-control, and to our self-control perseverance. And it makes sense to me that perseverance is the one that comes after self-control, because maintaining the self-control will be the next challenge. My closest Christian friends in high school are gone from the faith. They left early on in their lives. One gave up in high school, the other shortly after. My best friend from Sunnyvale has left the faith. He and I had such a good time. We shared a similar sense of humor, shared a love for fish tacos. Some from this congregation who have not had this virtue have given up ontheir spiritual struggle to try another way. So I’m hoping that tonight’s lesson strengthens our resolve to not become somebody’s friend or family member who gave up.

The word in this passage is translated from a Greek word that’s made up of two different words: abide and under. So it’s a compound word that means to abide under.

When you read this word, you’re supposed to picture a guy with a huge weight on his shoulders. And he’s bracing himself and preparing to hold it up for as long as will be necessary. That’s what endurance looks like. But I thought it was interesting that in both Strong’s Greek dictionary and Kittel’s they say there’s an element of joy in this word.

That’s an optimistic guy under the huge burden. He can still joke a little, laugh about it as he struggles. Because he has hope. So perseverance is as much an attitude as it is the action of staying put. The word in this passage is translated from a Greek word that’s made up of two different words: abide and under. So it’s a compound word that means to abide under.

As we’ve talked about while working through 2 Peter, all these words in the list are the Bible’s virtues for man, similar to the way the philosophers back then made lists of their virtues. They had their lists, the Bible has its list which comes from God. And do you remember when we were talking about self-control this morning that we learned the Greeks overvalued self-control? They couldn’t stop talking about it, while the Bible only mentions self-control a few times in the context of setting aside our desires for someone else. It was just the opposite for endurance. The Greeks hardly talked about it. They didn’t like the thought of having to just wait and suffer. Just endure things that other people do for you. Hope that you’ll be rescued some day. Some of the Christian virtues must have sounded so weak to them – meekness, turning the other cheek, love your enemy. What do you think? Is it weak and cowardly to allow life to hurt us and to put our lives in the hands of the Lord while we struggle? Or is it courageous, requiring a lot of strength to not fight back and love without becoming bitter?

I think it’s hard to keep doing the right things with cheerfulness when life’s beating us down. Like a big move. We can certainly relate to James and Ann right now. No matter what we’re going through, we still have to be nice. I still have to be a dad to my kids and be there for the people who need me, and have a good attitude about everything with what feels like a huge burden on us. That’s endurance. Endurance means that life is going to make us feel tension and anxiety regularly, and that God’s not going to take it away. He’s going to let it stay there, and He expects us to carry it cheerfully.

I like the way Old Testament people thought about endurance. To them it didn’t mean, “OK, I just need to suck it up for a little while longer and get through this so I can go to heaven.” To them, endurance meant, “The Lord’s on His way, just give Him a minute.” (Read scriptures) That’s different than, “Grin and bear it,” isn’t it? It’s almost like they’re saying, “I can’t do it. Lord, I need you right now! When are you coming? Here I am. I’m sinking. I’m desperate. Please hurry!” Some of the psalmists seemed so IM-patient in their prayers. Psalm 4:1-2, 6:3, 35:17, 89:46-47, 90:13. But one thing they weren’t going to do was wait for somebody else to come rescue them. It was the Lord or nobody. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Lord, I know you see what we’re going through down here. I’m stressed and I don’t know how long I can hold out. Please hurry. That’s how they endured.

Sometimes they had to wait a long time, and only hung on by a thread, before God came and rescued them. Like Moses, who fled Egypt after he tried and failed to save Israel from Pharoah. And for 40 years in the wilderness he lived as a failure, as a shell of his former self, lost all confidence, lost all ambition, before God finally met him at the burning bush. But he didn’t quit the Lord. Hebrews 11:27. He never quit God. He persevered after forsaking Egypt because He knew God was coming. I love to see struggling Christians hang in there. I know they’re in a serious battle with the world and with discouragement and temptation, but they keep fighting through it, and they walk through the door on Sunday and I’m so thankful to see them because they’re enduring.

Everybody knows about the patience of Job. James says, James 5:11b. But there were times when Job questioned God during his trials. When he was hanging by a thread. But this is not a virtue that’s measured by exterior sinlessness or righteous acts. It’s the quality of not giving up, even when we’re down to a thread. We’re still going to wait on the Lord until the end.

But when you get to the New Testament, the focus of endurance is a little different. Now, the Bible does shine more light on the suffering rather than the Lord.

Matthew 10:22-23.

2 Timothy 2:10

2 Timothy 2:12. And the word suffer here is the Greek word for endurance that we’ve been talking about. This isn’t waiting on the Lord in this context, this is enduring suffering.

So Biblical endurance consists of two things: Standing strong under the world’s burdens. Accepting that life is doing to be stress and anxiety and hardship and that we’re not going to have peace here. And waiting on the Lord, knowing that He’s coming to help us.

How close are you to the end of your rope? Are you feeling the pull of the world on you, and you’re thinking it might happen. You might be the next friend that is talked about as having gone to try something else. Before you go, ask God for the tools needed for endurance. Ask Him to help you find the cheerfulness that’s required to not get overly discouraged. Ask Him to strengthen your conviction in Him, and in His Word. That you do have the truth, and it’s worth holding on to no matter what anybody else believes. And ask Him for the measure of courage that you’ll need to endure the world’s suffering. People are going to try and get you to leave. They’ll be your family and friends. It’s going to take great courage to stay put. People are going to ridicule you for what you believe. Problems are going to overwhelm you.

Pray for the courage that defines the people of God. God will come and help you with everything you need. If you’re on the verge of slipping this morning, and you can strengthen your endurance, then let us be a strength for you too. We want to help we want to pray with you. Please don’t do it by yourself. Come forward and we will embrace you, while we stand and sing.

Good morning. This morning we talked about growing in knowledge from 2 Peter 3:18. And tonight we’re going to continue thinking about growing in knowledge by considering the first thing God says needs to happen in our knowledge development.

We looked at the value of growth in knowledge from Peter’s words in chapter 1:3-4 . . . 2 Peter 1:3-4. And noticed those promises come not just from knowing the Bible but from knowing God. (Read scriptures about knowing God). That’s the knowledge that will give us life and godliness and a share in the divine nature. So how do we know Him? It’s not just, “Read the Bible.” We saw this morning that the graces need to be increasing in us to make the knowledge fruitful in us, 2 Peter 1:7ff. But the scriptures also explain that there is something else we need to do first before reading our Bibles if we’re going to gain the knowledge of Him. Take a look at Proverbs 1:7.

Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And obviously this isn’t talking about knowledge of math, or sports, or music or psychology. Solomon explains this kind of knowledge in verse 3. Proverbs 1:3-6. All of this is going to lead us to knowing the Lord, but first we have to learn to fear him. How do we do that? It’s kinda funny that we learn to fear so many trivial things before we learn to fear the Lord. I remember being afraid of girls in my younger days. I was terrified to talk to them. I learned that by being around them. I learned to fear public speaking by around middle school. I was pretty afraid of the guy who lived two houses up from us, a military guy. We got into his stash of MREs in his garage one time. That was scary. My dad taught me to fear him after my brother and I woke him up from a nap one day. What did you learn to fear before fearing the Lord? So then if we learned to fear those things, we can learn to fear the Lord, who gives us more reason to fear Him than anything else. Moses learned to fear the Lord. The scripture says that when Moses saw the presence of the Lord and Mount Sinai and heard his voice that he was filled with fear and trembling. The apostles learned to fear Jesus when He calmed a storm at sea. Mark 4:41 says they were terrified.

And we can too. The scripture says the first thing we have to learn about God before we can understand anything else is that He is to be feared. We need to recognize that He can and will do things to us that we won’t like. He can and will hurt us if we disobey. We need to recognize that we or anybody or anything else are no match for His power. And we need to recognize that He can and does regularly get offended, and that He doesn’t like a lot of things that we do.

There was a book that a church member gave me called “Not God Enough.” The premise of the book is that our concept of God is too small. We prefer a God that we can understand, that’s maybe a little bit bigger version of us. We want Him to be our friend. We want to be able to scratch His back so that He’ll scratch ours. But that sort of God is not big enough, and minimizes the Majesty of our Creator. The author goes on to say that so many of our problems are the result of not fearing the Lord like we ought to. When our lives seem stressful and chaotic it’s because God’s not big enough to us. When life seems meaningless, He’s minimized. When we’re apathetic or unmotivated, and we’re not pushing forward and growing, we’re not afraid of what this God can do to us.

If you’re having doubts, or if you’re angry or discouraged, Consider the story of Job, who lost faith in the power of God when He began to believe life was unfair. That God had made a mistake in his case and was punishing him unjustly. And when God has had enough, He makes an appearance to Job not to explain Himself, because Job’s problem wasn’t that He didn’t understand what God was doing. But he needed to remember the fear of the Lord.

And the way God reminds Job of who He is was by asking Him a series of 64 questions. Job 38. Job, where were you when I made the earth? How about when I put the stars together? Oh, and explain the weather, Job. And explain goat reproduction (that’s chapter 39). And ostrich psychology. And I’ve been thinking about this lately, I believe part of what God’s trying to get Job to see, beyond “See how dumb you are, Job,” is, “Job, I’ve been successful at things for a long time without you having a clue about how I did them. But now you’re in the middle of a work that you don’t like and you think I’m gonna suddenly mess this one up?” Do you think God’s gonna mess up with your life? After His power has perfected everything in the universe so far? Do you have a reason to be anxious, or worried, or discouraged, or doubtful, or hopeless?

If you feel any of those things, it may be time to get back to the drawing board. Proverbs 1:7. And then once you’ve established the base of knowledge,

Grow in it. And yes you do have to read the Bible, but lots of people who don’t know God read the Bible. You have to read it to get to know the Lord. That has to be your end-game in every passage that you read. I was thinking that we don’t pay good enough attention to God’s Word. Every Word is inspired, isn’t it? When Jesus quoted from it, He treasured every single Word. He noted tenses. Paul once noted that it said, “Seed,” not seeds. Don’t miss the details that tell us just a little bit more about our God! When you read Genesis 1, look at the way God makes His creation and learn about Him. Think about why, of all names God could have chosen for His people, that He picked “Israel,” wrestles with God. Think about God’s anger towards Uzzah for touching the ark, but His act of compassion towards Balaam in opening His eyes using the donkey, or His compassion for wicked Nineveh. The way He talks to the devil (Job, Jesus and the demons). Look at the sins He hates. The way He makes Israel perform the animal sacrifices with their hand on the head of the animal. The way He talks to the Devil. We need to do a better job paying attention to what the Bible is telling us about God. That’s how we’ll grow our knowledge. How well do we know our Savior? Do you fear Him? For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 2 Peter 1:16-18. Do you fear His power, majesty, honor and glory? Will you use the scriptures to grow and develop your understanding of Him? If so, He will give you all things you need for life and godliness, and you will become a partaker of His divine nature. Come forward confessing your faith in Him, and we will baptize you right now for the forgiveness of your sins.

Good morning. 2 Peter 3:18 commands that we: Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. I believe that my job as a preacher is to help this church grow, and that if we’re not growing we are not pleasing him. Peter commands that we grow in two areas here in this scripture at the end of his last letter. Grow in grace and knowledge. I think we have an idea of what grow in knowledge means. But what does it mean to grow in grace? Well there’s a reason that Peter mentions the two together, and I want to show you that they are tied together. Peter has a lot to say about knowledge in this letter, but he also makes it clear that we can’t grow in knowledge without growing in grace.

If I were to ask you to describe the character of the apostle Peter, what might you come up with? Fiery? Leader? Outspoken? A little foot-in-mouth disease? Did anybody think “knowledgeable?” That’s not generally the first thing that comes to mind. It does for Paul, but not Peter. Peter’s not the knowledge apostle. But notice how often Peter talks about the importance of knowing God in this letter. Look at chapter one, verse 2: 2 Peter 1:2. May grace be multiplied in the knowledge of God. And doesn’t that sound familiar?

2 Peter 3:18.

1:3, 5, 8, 12. In chapter two he condemns heresies that interfere with the knowledge of God. And then in chapter 3 the apostle talks about knowing in verse 3, the Word of God in verse 5, and then he concludes the letter by warning, 3:17-18.

Growing in knowledge clearly is important to Peter. So how do you do that? What might you say to somebody who wants to grow their spiritual knowledge? Well that’s a dumb question, you study right? 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show yourself approved (KJV). But that can’t be all there is. Because a lot of people are studying and they’re not coming to the right answers. Lots of people are studying and they’re not coming to a knowledge of God. How many people have their doctorate in the Bible but still don’t know God? How many people do you know who know the Bible better than you but don’t know God? Studying in an of itself is not enough. And so Peter teaches us that there’s another key that must be in place before unlocking the knowledge of God.

What is it? Take a look at chapter 1, beginning in verse 3. 2 Peter 1:3-11. Do you notice that Peter keeps referring not to Bible knowledge but the knowledge of God? That’s really important. Why we read this book is crucial. Are we reading to learn about God, or do we have some other agenda? Some Christians I know value having lots of things in the Bible memorized, but not to learn about God. It’s just a game. It’s just pride. Bible scholars read the Bible to learn about ancient culture and themes. But people who read the Bible to know God access a great power. 1:3. Where is this divine power? Well, it’s through the knowledge ofHim. And that power that comes through knowing God gives us access to life and godliness. And glory and excellence. We get to partake of the divine nature of God. We escape corruption. All through the knowledge of God. Did you know all of that comes from God’s Word? Do you really believe that? It’s often that I get a new therapy client who has some big changes to make. And they say they want to change, and so we lay out a plan for how that change will happen. And then when we get started they make no progress. Some new problem always comes up that interferes with change. And the problem is that they really weren’t ready for change, or they kinda don’t want to change because they would lose something important to them. How much do we believe in the power of God’s Word? How much do you treasure God’s Word? How much do you believe in its divine power? That it gives us all these awesome promises? I know how to tell. And I appreciate what I know about several of you. I called Joyce the other day and Lewis couldn’t talk because he was finishing up his daily Bible study. That’s a man who believes in the power of God’s word.

If you really want to know God, if you’re really excited about those promises, then Peter says what we need to do to get that knowledge. 2 Peter 1:5. What does he say to do to get this knowledge? Notice that the first thing is not studying. Let’s go through the verse. “For this reason.” If you want all those blessings that God’s offering. “Make every effort.” Here’s what to do. Add to your faith virtue, and knowledge and self-control, endurance and godliness and brotherly kindness and love. In other words, work on yourself. That’s the first step.

I saw this movie where Tom Cruise was hanging from the side of a cliff, and he had to climb up the cliff in about 30 seconds to get a controller that was up on top to diffuse a bomb. So how many of us could climb this cliff if we had to? I can’t do a pullup right now. I can’t climb a cliff. I think what Peter’s saying is that if the promises are so important to us, then we’ll work on ourselves and get ourselves in good spiritual condition so that we can make the climb, so that we can access the power of the knowledge of God. You don’t fully access the knowledge of God until you work on yourself.

And what’s the reward of working and strengthening ourselves in these qualities? Verse 8. 2 Peter 1:8. It makes our knowledge effective and fruitful. Do you truly want to know God? Then you can’t just study. You have to work on yourself. You can’t just go get a PHD. You can’t just go memorize all the minor prophets. All that studying won’t do us any good if we’re not adding to our faith virtue as well as the knowledge, and self-control and brotherly love and the others. So if you want to find a great Bible student, find a godly man or woman. Find the person who excels in brotherly affection. And if you truly believe in the power of God’s Word, then you have to work on being a godly person to unlock its knowledge.

And I believe that’s what Peter means when he commands us to grow in the grace and knowledge. The grace is the qualities, and the knowledge refers to our understanding.

And it’s so important to Peter that we build up our knowledge because he’s worried about us. He knows he’s about to die. “I know that the putting off of my body will be soon” he says in chapter 1 verse 14. And he’s so worried about how strong we’re going to be when he’s gone and the floodgates open for all these false prophets and false teachers, which he talks about throughout chapter two. And the scoffers that will come along and make fun of our faith, which he talks about in chapter three.

Is our knowledge strong enough to withstand all of the false teaching surrounding us? And the answer is not just how much you know, but who you are. What do you need to build up your knowledge of God? Do you need to treasure it more? Do you need to study it harder? Or are you weak on the Christian graces? Whatever growth is needed, the time is now. Because the Word of God is so powerful, it can both create and destroy. It can bless us or curse us, as Peter says in chapter 3 verse 5, 2 Peter 3:5-7, 10-12. Will the Word of God be a blessing or a curse for you on the last day? Enter into His Kingdom this morning through faith, confession and baptism if you haven’t already done so. Or if it’s time to change your attitude about God’s Word, please repent this morning before it’s too late. Let us help while we stand and sing.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

I found this comic a while back and thought it was funny. So he’s able to not lie to his friend, but I’m not so sure he tapped into the power of prayer with that one.

What exactly is the power of scripture to us? I mean, what does it actually do to read it? Will it really do that much to us at this point, given we’ve been Christians for years already, Or do we have to read it because of judgement day? To answer that question, we’ll spend time taking maybe a deeper look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17 than we probably normally do. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.”

And that’s not really the best translation from Greek. The Bibles that use the phrase “God breathed” is better, because that’s literally what the verse says. Not, “All scripture is inspired” but “All scripture is God-breathed.” So it’s not inspiration, it’s respiration. And actually, inspire is the same meaning as inhale. When you think of the breath of God do you think of Him inhaling? I doubt it. He’s exhaling, using His breath to create the Words. That’s not inspiration, that’s expiration. It’s the breath of God. Interestingly, this is the only place this particular Greek word is used in the Bible, but we do read a lot about the breath of God, going all the way back to the beginning, to Genesis 2. The scriptures are the breath of God. What is that saying? What does that mean? The way I’ve usually heard this verse used is to prove that every Word in the Bible originated from God, and that’s true. Every Word is God’s, not man’s. These writers did not write their own thoughts down about God:

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (ESV 1 Cor 2:13).

But is that all we get from the Bible about what “The breath of God” means? Let’s take a look at what it means in other Bible passages. When we’re first introduced to it, it’s creating life. Turn to Genesis 2:7. What does it mean here?

Genesis 2:7. So what is the breath of God here? It’s the source of life. You and I are a handful of dust that God animated using His breath. God’s breath is the source of life.

The scripture is the breath of God. So why is it so important to us? Because it’s God’s life-giving breath. Because of what it can create in us and do to us. Create in me a clean heart, O God. (Psalm 51:10) What would you like God’s Word to create in you? How would you like God to breathe life into you? How would you like God to create a strong person out of you? Breathe a peaceful spirit into you? Or make you something new that has great patience and gentleness? That would be pretty awesome, wouldn’t it? Do you believe this is the breath of God? Then you believe that if you’ll study it and meditate on it, it will bring you life.

Similarly, the breath of God describes an unseen power or force. That’s how Jesus described the Holy Spirit in John 3. He is a wind, which is the Greek word Pneuma, translated as breath or wind or spirit: John 3:6-8. You can’t see Him, but He is a powerful force. With God’s breath He freezes the waters in Job 37:10. He lays bare the foundations of the earth with His breath in Psalm 18:15, and with the breath of His lips He slays the wicked, Isaiah 11:4. So does God-breathed simply mean that the Bible came from God, or does it mean that the Bible is a powerful, life-giving word?

Third, we’re the breath of God. The same stuff that makes up scripture makes up us. We’re dirt plus God’s breath, Genesis 2:7. I try to write songs sometimes, and I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing, so when one doesn’t quite work I don’t really know what to do with it next. So it just stays that way, half finished, until I can learn some more and finish it. But it’s a little discouraging having all these half-finished songs. There’s a sense in which we’re all half-finished creations. Even Adam and Eve, when they were created, were not yet like God, knowing good and evil. That was going to come. You and I know we’re incomplete, but the good news is that we’re made out of this, and it can complete us, 2 Timothy 3:17. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God [ a ] may be complete, equipped for every good work.

So “Inspiration” doesn’t just mean that this is 100% God’s Word. It means that God’s Word is powerful and life-giving. I know it’s transformed me. I have a pretty good idea of what I’d be without it, and it’s a scary person. Empty, dark, selfish, hopeless, inadequate. And I wish I could get you to see that it’s not just a boring old book that’s assigned reading. But you have to find that out yourself. It’s a book that you just need to get to know yourself. Jacob is an amazing person in scripture. I didn’t know that until I read it myself. The Song of Solomon is so beautiful. Hosea. The imagery in Joel and John. Nehemiah’s wall. Jesus setting His face like flint towards Jerusalem. What Paul had to put with among the brethren. Jesus the hero in Hebrews. Go get some new life breathed into you this week.

The Word of Life can do for you what it did to Adam and Eve when it all began: Breathe life into you. If you’re dead in your sins, come be cleansed this morning through your faith in the Lord and obedience to His plan. Acts 22:16.

1 Peter 4:17-19.

Back years ago during the days of Jesus, the Pharisees believed God would save them because they were just better at religion than everyone else. Some would pray, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other men” (Luke 18). But Jesus said they were lost: Matthew 5:20. During that same time many of the Jews thought they were going to be saved because of their heritage. They were the people of God. Yeah, you’re Jews, Paul says in Romans 2:17, but you steal, and commit adultery and break the Law. So I wanted to ask you, why do you believe God is going to save you? And I think a lot of times the answer from Christians is, “I don’t know. I just hope He does.” If so it will be because He’s more gracious than I deserve.” And yeah, He’s certainly not going to save any of us because we deserve it. There’s no question about that, that’s what Ephesians 2:8 says.

Ephesians 2:8-9. But still, we know it’s not enough to simply rely on God without doing our part, and God makes that very clear in scripture.

Take a look at Romans 2:1-4. Here is God’ response to those Jews who thought they should be saved just for being God’s people. Romans 2:1-4. OK, so what were they missing here? They believed in God’s kindness. They depended on it, along with His forbearance and patience? But what else did they need to do? What if that’s how we sought salvation? I know I’m going to be saved because God is so patient with me and forgiving, and that’s all I need to konw. That’s not enough is it? Because the kindness of God ought to lead us to repentance. Now bear in mind that the apostle Paul is talking to Christians here. He’s writing to the church in Rome, to people who supposedly are already following God, and they still need repentance. So what’s our part in salvation? If we want to have confidence in our salvation, it needs to be based on our repentance.

Matthew 7 is another example of what God’s people need to be doing on their part to receive salvation from God. Matthew 7:21-23. So what was he missing? He was doing a lot of good things. Is that how we’re saved? Because none of us are going to be perfect, right? So at least we can be decent people and do some good deeds as best we can. This man did some great things, casting out demons and performing miracles. But what was he missing? Again, it was repentance! Repentance isn’t just for the world, it’s for the people of God, too. As long as there’s still sin in our lives, there had better be repentance, day after day after day.

I ran across a lighter down at the gas station that had a little saying on it that bothered me way more than it should have. It said: It’s no big deal, so maybe it just caught me in a bad mood. I was working on the car at the time. But there’s several of these sayings on the lighters at the counter like this. My goal in life is to party less and get to bed earlier. And the gist of them is don’t depend on me, I can’t even depend on myself.

And I think that’s what bothered me. Thinking that I’m just who I am. Settling, which is the opposite of repentance. I think that as Christians we’re tempted to settle. Do you have any vices that just don’t ever seem to go away? Do you have bad habits that tempt you to say, “That’s just who I am?” Those are the things I’m talking about. I just have a mouth on me. I just like a few things too much that I probably shouldn’t like. I probably should be doing a little more for God, but I just can’t get into the whole Bible thumper thing. What’s your “I guess that’s just who I am”? That’s what I’m talking about. It’s settling. It’s depending on the kindness of God for your forgiveness and salvation, when God says . . .

If we’re not making a serious effort to change, do you think God will save us in the end? What about this verse:

1 Peter 4:17-19. So that’s what I hope you’ll think about tonight. Don’t settle! It won’t end well if we do. Let me suggest three areas where I think Christians are tempted to simply depend on God’s mercy rather than committing to a lifetime of repentance.

Christians just accept that this is the way I talk. They’ll say, “I’ve got a bad habit of using bad language, and I’ve always had it and I just can’t stop.” Even though repentance is stopping. Ephesians 4:29. Zero unwholesome words. That’s the goal. And sure it’s hard. If it’s engrained in you, it may take a while to get past it, but if you’re just going to accept it and not work towards stopping it, then you’re no better than the man who heard “I never knew you.” I remember a guy back in San Diego who became a Christian, and he was so moved by God’s mercy that he asked to speak in front of the church, and he was expressing his thankfulness to all of us and a bad word slipped out. Oops. He was so embarrassed. But we all understood. There are lots of examples in the Bible of people who really struggled with sin. The problem isn’t that we struggle with sin. It’s that we get too comfortable with our sin. Samson was a worldly man in many ways. He had a major problem with lust, among other things, and it got him into a lot of trouble. But he never was OK with sin. His last act in life was one of repentance. David was a sinful man, but he also lived a life of repentance and constantly had penitence on his mind. Psalm 51 “Against you alone have I sinned.” Repentance is not about being perfect. But it’s about fighting every day and never giving up on finding ways to overcome sin. It’s never accepting.

A second area where it’s easy for Christians to not try is overcoming the sinful things we use to cope with a difficult life, like addictions. Alcohol, for example. It’s not OK to drink. You think that because Bible people drank, it’s OK for you to drink? Then I challenge you to study what wine godly people drank in the Bible. Because what you’ll find is that whatever they drank, it was something they had no problem sharing with their kids. Lamentations 2:11-12 Zechariah 9:17 So are you going to share what you drink with your kids? Why not? You’re just drinking the same stuff Bible people drank right? Of course not. What you drink takes the edge off. It’s a drug. That’s not why godly people drank back then. And I imagine that you know it’s something that needs to be stopped. Repentance is saying, “I know I need to stop and I’m going to find a way.” And the same is true with pornography. It’s a sinful addiction, it’s a drug that people use to escape. And we have to be determined to put these things behind us and not accept that’s just who we are.

And Christians accept being irresponsible instead of trying to be better workers. Some brethren just aren’t that involved. They just aren’t evangelists, they’re not teachers and that’s it. So let me just ask you, is that repentant? Or is that accepting? What if our kids tell us one day, “Dad, I’m just not a clean person. That’s why I don’t clean my room, that’s why I’m not gonna do the dishes.” So what are you going to say? Are you an evangelist? A teacher? A leader? Have you just decided you’ll never be that? I don’t think that’s the attitude of repentance.

We don’t need to be the world’s best Christian to get to heaven, there’s no such thing. We will be saved by God’s grace because we’re never going to be enough for salvation. And God will save us if we’re the repentant people. That doesn’t mean you fix everything in one day. That doesn’t happen. Repentance is every day, never giving up, never accepting our flaws and failures as children of God. Acts 2:38

Are you showing contempt for God’s kindness this morning? God has blessed us with today to make things right. If God’s kindness leads you to repentance this morning, then come forward so we can pray with you. If you are ready for both repentance and baptism, then why do you delay?

There’s lots of debate today about what the church can and cannot do that can be solved in part by having a better understanding of what the church “is.” Can the church help the poor? Can they open orphanages? Can the church be political? Can it build schools and hospitals and gymnasiums? We’re going to talk tonight about the way the Bible uses the word “church” that I hope will be a start to answering some of these questions.

To begin, it’s important to define what the word “church” means. Most of us, I imagine, understand that the Greek word for church is ekklesia, which literally means “called out.” It calls to mind 1 Peter 2:9 where Peter says we were called out of darkness into His marvelous light. When the New Testament began using this word, in the days of the apostles, they understood it to mean a group of people called together for a specific purpose, like a special assembly.

Turn to Acts 19:32, 39, 41. Here is the word church used three times. What do you think it means here? An assembly. So it’s not originally a religious word. It’s a word that can be used in a variety of contexts to mean “assembly.” Town meeting (Acts 19), army, business meeting: sacrilegious to describe a soccer church, Weight Watchers church? So what “group” is referred to when God uses this Word in reference to Christians? Well, there’s a couple of answers to this question, and these answers go to the heart of our discussion today. God used the word church to describe two different kind of groups, and I want to show them to you today. One group is what you might call the “universal church,” which is an assembly that transcends space and time, the church built by Christ that will one day all be together in heaven, Heb 12:22-24. The other group is a local group of Christians assembled together, Acts 8:1, 1 Cor 1:2, 1 Thess 1:1.

Even Though Both Churches Are Part Of The Plans of God, We Must Understand They Are Not The Same Thing! And we need to see the differences. Because if we don’t, we’re not going to understand what’s wrong with denominations, and we’re going to get confused about what the church can and cannot do. So first, God uses “church” to describe the Universal Body of Christ, Ephesians 1:22-23. This universal church is made up of all the saved of all the earth of all ages, Matthew 16:18. It’s now built, and it’s being added to daily, Acts 2:47, Gal 3:27. And since it’s comprised of both saints who are now dead and others who are alive, and people across the globe and people in heaven, it doesn’t meet together literally. But the Bible does give us a figurative picture of that church over in Heb 12:22-24. It’s the only perfect church! Acts 2:47 saved. Churches on earth can have lost people in their membership, but not this one. There are no earthly leaders of this church. The one who heads this assembly is Christ alone, Eph 1:22-23 (He alone commands and leads this assembly). Finally there is no collective work for this assembly. He never gave this church any kind of organized plan on earth. He never said, “I want you all to get together and solve world hunger. I want all of you to meet in Egypt each year for a delegation. Find a way to work together to get Bibles across the world or evangelize. Now He tells each of us individually to do such things, Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Cor 7, Matt 5:16. He tells you to go where you can go and do them. But there’s no collective work for the whole church. The “universal church” isn’t to evangelize, except for each person doing their job. The church isn’t to help orphans and widows, except for each Christian doing their part. (Whole church join together and conquer! I want a worldwide plan, universal collection, save the world! No - not possible, since some are dead) The 2nd way God uses the word church is to describe a local assembly of Christians that are called to work together. Acts 8:1, 1 Cor 1:2, 1 Thess 1:1. These local churches are comprised of Christians who physically meet together for worshiping and complete certain God-given tasks, Heb 10:24-25 (obviously important - everywhere in NT!) The 2nd kind of church God organized is one that is a physical group, and must work together on earth to accomplish some things, Acts 8:1, 1 Cor 1:2, 1 Thess 1:1. And unlike the other church, these assemblies are NOT perfect churches! There are people in these who sadly are not in the other, 1 Cor 5, 3 Jn 9, Acts 20:29 (I have worried about that everywhere I’ve gone!) The reason is WE decide who’s in or out, and we make imperfect decisions. These churches do have human oversight, 1 Peter 5:1-2, Heb 13:17. As a result, unlike the other Church there’s a physical organization to get some collective work done. Thus: Local churches do share in a collective work, where all are to unite and participate together, Acts 6, 1 Cor 14:23. So now let me add that sometimes we imagine in our minds a third use of this word that is not found in the Bible, and I want to prove it. Sometimes we think of the word church like it’s a denomination. Haver you ever said or heard somebody say, “Brethren, the church is getting weaker, the church is drifting. We are losing our influence.” Now when somebody says that, which church do you think they mean? The universal, local, or something else? I think they mean something else. I think they are imagining all of the “Church of Christ” churches and calling that “The Church.” It’s very similar to a denominational view of the church, the idea that men on earth can lead several local churches and unite them together with a creed book and some rules. It’s not a Biblical concept. Let’s limit our talk about the church to Biblical concepts. Now if we understand these two concepts, then it helps us better understand what churches are supposed to do. Is it the duty of the church to help orphans and widows? Well, which church are you talking about? The universal? Then yes. Christians are supposed to do that. Now does this universal church have a way of all joining together and doing that work, or are we commanded to each do this individually? Well, there is no command or rule for any kind of cooperation, so we all must do our part individually. Now what about this church. Is there any command given to it to help orphans? No. The local church has been given many responsibilities – Lord’s Supper, preaching, assembling, collecting money – but it wasn’t given any commands to help orphans. Why? Because that command is taken care of by this church. So can local churches band together and form a collective of churches to do more work? Well, that’s not a thing in the Bible. We would be creating a structure that doesn’t exist in the New Testament, a third way of thinking about “church” that God doesn’t use.

We’ve got to be careful with the concept of church and talk about it only in the way that God talks about it. That will help us stay out of trouble and stick to only doing things according to His will. God created two structures - His universal, perfect body, and local churches. There’s nothing in between, no organization or collection of churches. I hope the lesson was helpful. Would you like to be a part of the body of Christ?

Luke 4:42-43.

I remember as a kid singing this song about a magic penny. It said, “Love is something if you give it away, you’ll end up having more.” “It’s just like a magic penny hold it tight and you won’t have any.” Did you ever sing that? I think our priorities are that way. We have things we really want and are scared to ever lose that we squeeze them to death. Parents lose their kids like this. People invest into their careers for decades, sacrificing other things, and then it falls apart at the end. I now many four older men who gave everything to their employer for decades, who had it taken from them right before they retire. They gave everything for that job and it’s gone and they don’t know what to do. We love the holidays in our house. I would hate to lose that time. We’ve never not all been together at Christmas, but I know it’s coming. 45% of North Americans now dread the holiday season that used to mean everything to them (psychologist Ray Williams). Hold it tight and you won’t have any. Let it go and you end up having more. We get an idea from Luke 4 that Jesus handled His priorities in this way. He’s so different from us. He pursued them, and then when they were in His grasp, He did something to let what He desired go, and in the end He had everything. Whatever He wanted, whatever was most important to Him, He almost seemed to try to lose it, but in the end they came back tenfold. Turn to Luke 4.

Jesus’ first priority of course was to draw the world to Himself. Luke 4:18-22. And you can see it was working! The people were listening to Him, speaking well of Him, admiring His gracious Words. It feels so good as a preacher to be well-received, when people act like you’re meeting their needs and helping, and it’s so discouraging to feel rejected. Jesus has them from the beginning as He was sent to do, and everyone’s speaking well of Him amazed at His Words. He’s got just what He wants and can grow these followers into the millions if He wanted easily. Except that’s not how Jesus works. What He does next makes you think that it meant nothing to Him to win the respect of the people of Nazareth. Luke 4:22-29. What’s that all about? You had them and then you just pushed them all away. You were doing so good, but now You’re ruining it! Well it’s because Jesus had a greater priority than gaining followers. He was trying to save souls.

Look further down to Luke 4:33-35. Another priority for Jesus was to help people get rid of their demons. Luke 4:33-35. I’ve got a few that I’d like vanquished (not literally). I wish He’d come and finish the job, don’t you? No doubt the devil and his demons continue to roam the earth causing trouble, 1 Peter 5:8. In Jesus’ day they would get inside of people and control their body somehow. Sometimes they would try to damage the body, even of little kids, throwing them into the fire, causing seizures, cutting on it. So naturally people were thrilled to see Jesus dominate them. But why didn’t He completely destroy them? I’ve always thought Jesus had a Jesus’ relationship with demons is strange. It’s almost a love/hate thing. On the one hand, He spends a lot of time casting them out of people, which apparently was an unpleasant thing for demons. In our bodies, we’re blessed with a mechanism that allows us to rest. We get tired, we sleep or sit down and get rejuvenated. But demons have no way of resting, Luke 11:24. Jesus does not hesitate to cast out demons, but it doesn’t seem like Jesus wants to hurt them. He doesn’t want to punish them for what they did. In Matthew 8 some demons pleaded with Jesus not to hurt them, and He listened to them, allowing them to go into some pigs instead of people. How would you feel if Jesus cast a demon out of you and then just let it go? The demon could even find its way back to you, Luke 11:24ff. I think justice is a major priority for most of us. We want evil people to get what they deserve. Do you think in our political climate there are people who ought to get what they deserve? We feel it. I don’t see that vindictiveness in Jesus, not even to the demons. He casts out without cruelty, and without losing sight of mercy despite the importance of defeating them.

Further down we learn that Jesus made it a priority to heal people. Luke 4:38-40. I hadn’t really thought about this before, but Jesus healed a lot of people, And then do you know what happened to them? They had to get up and get back to work. This happens to Peter’s mother-in-law, who was healed of a fever by Jesus, and then immediately has to get up and get back to work. Luke 4:38-39. People got healed and then they had to go work 60 hours a week and deal with the stress of families and bosses and survival. They had family problems and rebellious children and then they all died. Why not, if you have the power to heal people, like completely heal them? I think the same thing concerning Jesus’ help to the poor. He could multiply food, cure every disease, He had power over death, but He won’t completely fix it forever. Jesus’ priority was to heal people, but He would not do so completely because He recognized there was still a place for burdens and suffering.

Jesus also made it a priority to come to people who needed Him. I think about Matthew 8 when Jesus was called by the Centurion to come help His servant and Jesus was ready to follow this man home. But often when the people overwhelmingly wanted Jesus to stay with them, He would decide to leave. Just as Galilee was warming up to Him, the scripture says: Luke 4:42-43. So He’s making headway with these people. He’s provided a taste of His message and His power, and they like it. They’re now ready to hear Him! How much good He can do for them now? He could stay there and work with them, teach them and study with them and bring them along. So what does He do then? “ Welp, sorry, got to go.” What? You just got here? We’re finally receptive! See we weren’t listening before, but now we’re open! Doesn’t it seem like Jesus did this a lot? Detaching Himself from His family (Who are my brothers and sisters and mother?). He wouldn’t entrust Himself to men because He knew what was in man. He died alone Again, you have to wonder, why is Jesus so different with His priorities than we are?

We want the companionships more than their salvation. We want to destroy the enemy so that we can have the ease. We don’t see the value in letting him remain. We want to unburden people, not just heal them. And we want to be needed. We don’t just want to provide needs to unappreciative people. What all of this means to me is that Jesus had a completely unselfish understanding of priorities, knowing that the only way He could accomplish His goals was to pursue them without seeking anything personally from them.

But we know that in the end He succeeded to the fullest extent, receiving every blessing and benefit available from these priorities. If we’re going to be like Jesus, we need to understand how to separate our selfish desires from the work that needs to be done. That’s the only way we’ll get what we’re truly seeking. How unselfishly have we been working to accomplish our goals? With our family, jobs, our work in the Kingdom? Are we doing it all for the Lord and depending ultimately on Him to bless our work? Love is something if you give it away you’ll end up having more. Hold it tight and you won’t have any. Lend it spend it and you’ll have so many.

Hebrews 12:16-17.

Given the way 2021 has started, people are already joking they’re ready for 2022. This is an unusual New Year, but still it’s the time of year that many of us consider ways of improving ourselves. How can we quit procrastinating? How can we defeat our sin, and be better workers and students? What is it going to take to build ourselves up as a church? How can we be more disciplined? And the answer most people tend to try is more will-power, more effort and determination. If I just try harder I can be better. Biblically speaking, I don’t believe this is God’s answer to self-improvement.

The scriptural way to self-improvement is repentance.

We’ll be studying Hebrews chapter 12 this morning, which begins with a message about determination, 12:1 And discipline, 12:5-6 And then turns to repentance, 12:17. In verses 1-3 we are encouraged to live life with the endurance that Jesus had. 12:1-3.

So how do we do that? Try really hard? No, God helps us. 12:4-7. God disciplines us, maybe with things like trials and life’s struggles and hardships and consequences. So how does that help us to live better?

Well, it changes our hearts and makes us righteous. 12:11-17. Esau tried really hard but got nowhere because he was defiled. But God’s people find repentance through the discipline of the Lord and transform.

And this is the pattern of change that is prominent in the Bible. It begins with a change in heart and then leads to a change in behavior, something that Esau couldn’t figure out. It always kinda bothers me when Christians make goals at the beginning of the year to read more or pray more or just be a more disciplined Christian, because it just sounds like people who make it a goal to go to the gym every day this year, and they’re going to start waking up two hours earlier to be more productive. It’s not realistic. You can’t just will yourself to make big life changes like that. Why weren’t you reading the Bible that much before? Why weren’t you doing more before? First answer that question and then address it, because it’s probably a heart problem. Maybe you don’t love the Bible as much as you think you do. Maybe we’re not as excited about being a child of God as we ought to be, maybe that’s why we’re not talking about it everywhere. Biblically speaking, the first step to being more disciplined is to come to our senses. The prodigal son “Came to his senses” first before changing. Luke 15:14-17. And that happened because he stopped enjoying his situation and started hurting about it. In the scriptures, it’s the people who are in pain who repent.

Ephesians 5:14

Joel 2:13.

2 Corinthians 7:10

So where do we begin if we want to be disciplined people? First we have to think about what we’ve done until it hurts. Why haven’t we been who we’re supposed to be and now all the sudden we’re going to be that person? We need to groan about our shortcomings. The Old Testament word for repent, naham, literally means, “To groan.” What does the Lord think? What damage have we been causing in our lives, by our shortcomings? Or in the lives of the people around us? How much does it hurt?

Let’s embrace that pain. And if we want to change but it doesn’t yet hurt, We can find repentance by reading God’s Word. Read about His kindness, Romans 2:4. 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Psalm 8:4-9. 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b] and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Do you remember what cause the prodigal son to finally repent? It was when he felt pain again while feeding those pigs. And the scripture says the pain came when he began meditating on his father’s love. Luke 15:11-19. We’re not disciplined like we should be because we’re too good at avoiding painful thoughts about ourselves. I can’t think about where I fail. I don’t want to talk about it. But those painful conversations are what lead to change. Seek discipline by considering God’s love in light of those areas that need to change, and His wrath against our sin, and don’t let up until you come to your senses.

And then once we hurt, then we can be motivated to change. The New Testament word metanoeo translated repentance literally means “To change one’s mind.” And metamelomai means “To change what we care for.” We face the hurt so that we can be motivated to change what’s important to us and then act on it.

I think a lot about the hurt that Judas felt after He betrayed Jesus. Why did he take that hurt and go kill himself? To him repentance meant, “To find a way to numb the pain.” And then I think about the hurt that Peter felt after he betrayed Jesus. How was he able to channel it for good? Judas’ solution to the pain was to try to make it stop, to run from it. But Peter used his to change. It’s impossible to numb that pain. Judas’ efforts were so foolish. Jesus said in Matthew 26:24 that it would have been better had he never been born. He died and immediately he’s taken to a place of torment. So how much relief did he get? It makes no sense. There’s going to be a reckoning. So we need to embrace that pain now. Hang it as a picture in our homes, set it as our ringtones, talk about it, think about it, until we can’t stand ourselves any longer and then use it like Peter to become a different person.

Luke 3:8-14.

Are you trying to become a more disciplined person this new year? It’s going to be really hard just forcing yourself to do what you’re supposed to do. Maybe you can hire somebody to follow you around 24/7 to keep you on track and out of trouble. To force you to go to church or talk to someone about the scriptures or visit the sick. But that kind of discipline rarely works. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires. (Colossians 2:23) A better way is to start by finding the place of repentance that Esau never found. First groan, then change what we desire, then act on it, and then we’ll make that transformation that we seek. But let’s do it soon because the winnowing fork is in His hand. And He will not show mercy to the unrepentant. Acts 2:38.

Psalm 18:1-6.

Psalm 18:1-6. Would you be surprised to know that the phrase “I love you” only occurs 7 times in the Bible? Once from Delilah to Samson, and what she actually said was “How can you say, ‘I love you’ and not tell me the secret of your strength?” Once in Psalm 18, where a man declares his love for God. And then In Isaiah 43:4, where God says “I love you” to Israel. Three times in John 21 when Peter tells Jesus, “You know I love you” as Jesus questions him about it three times. And then finally when Paul told the Corinthians “I love you.” I would have thought it would be more, given the central theme of love in scripture. But those words, I think, tend to increase in our thoughts and vocabularies the longer we’re Christians.

I remember having to make a decision about God back when I was the age my children are now. And I wasn’t thinking about “Does God love me” or “Do I love God.” I was just trying to figure out what’s true. Is there a God or not? Is there a true religion? Is there a right church? It was very mathematical. Well, if there is a God, and there’s a heaven and hell, then it would be stupid not to do what He wants me to do. But I’ve heard from many Christians that perspective changes over time and we want to start learning about God as a person. And that becomes a greater motivator than everything else. I believe it’s what Paul meant in Philippians 3 when he said . . .

Philippians 3:7-10. So I think a great way to start off the new year is to consider the real reason that we’re trying to get better this year and why it’s so important for this church to exist in this community – because we have a wonderful God.

Turn to Jeremiah chapter two. Here is one of the most intimate looks at the character of God as He fights for His people Israel. In chapter one, God chooses His representative to communicate with them, someone that God had picked out even before He was born, and who was very young but the Lord can’t wait longer for Him to grow up. He’s got to go get through to these people. And of course the Lord won’t throw Him to the wolves. He’ll be with Jeremiah every step of the way as Jeremiah tries to talk them back to God. Jeremiah 1:6-10. And then in chapter two, it’s time for Jeremiah to go talk to them, and we start understanding more about the character of God. Jeremiah 2-3. Who is our God?

He’s a God who has a certain kind of hope for who we will be to Him. The interesting thing about the beginning of chapter two is that it refers to a time in Israel’s history when they had a long ways to go spiritually, back when they were living in the wilderness and had many failures. Jeremiah 2:2b-3 But to God it was a beautiful time because they were committed to Him and He was able to be jealous over them. Laura and I have been married for 25 years now, and in a lot of ways it’s much easier than it was at the beginning. But that doesn’t mean those early years weren’t good. In some ways those were the best years when our relationship was just starting. It was much more of an emotional rollercoaster with really high highs and low lows. I remember one fight we had early on. It was my birthday, and I got up in the morning and was super tired and grouchy. And for some reason Laura was trying to make me go out into the car and run an errand for her and I didn’t want to. So she tried to ask me really nice and I was just getting more irritated. So she finally just said, “I have a present for you out in the car and I spent a lot of time getting it set up to go get it.” It was beautiful to God remembering Israel and Himself marching through the wilderness together, how they were willing to follow Him everywhere, and they were so beautiful marching by tribes led by the priests in their glorious robes, carrying the ark of the covenant and the materials for the tabernacle, and there’s God in front in the form of the cloud and fire, every one of their needs met in that desolate place and all of the other nations were terrified to mess with the people of God.

Another thing that’s clear about God from this passage is that He is intensely frustrated when He is rejected. It’s emotional to God. He’s not fine without us, just sending His people way and casting them out. That’s not the message that comes across in the Lord’s pleadings from this passage. Jeremiah 2:5b-7 Jeremiah 2:11-13 Jeremiah 2:29-35 Jeremiah 3:1-2 Jeremiah 3:6-10 Why would you do this to me? Aren’t I enough for you? Laura and I found out last week that some good friends of ours, great people, good-looking couple with beautiful children and families, Christians, are no longer a couple. And they’ve each posted pictures of each other with new people. And all I could think is, “This is so wrong!” You guys need each other. You guys were an A+ couple and now it’s two weird C-. What are you gonna find out there apart from Me? I’m here ready and wanting to enfold you and protect in this desolate wilderness, and you’re leaving me for a tree? For some false, empty hope? Why? It doesn’t make any sense. God’s personality is an emotional one.

Finally, God’s efforts to win us back involve talking to us. Can you imagine the conversation God would have with you at a moment of rebellion? It would probably sound something like this: 2:17-22 2:25 3:12b-19 From frustration and anger to compassion and pleading. That’s the nature of our loving God. I think about the time He spent chasing Jacob, in his youth, and then when he was grown and then when he left home and finally reached out to him in a dream at Bethel. It took forever to get his attention, but God finally did and he became His. I think about the love He had for Samson and Gideon. When we read their stories it’s hard to find much redeemable about those men but God cherished them, Hebrews 11 tells us. I think about Rahab and Hannah and the Canaanite woman that Jesus met. It’s always personal to God. And it must be so pleasant for Him to enjoy the company of His true Ones who love Him and fulfill the hope that He always had for man, even if the numbers aren’t what they ought to be.

At the end of chapter three God envisions something that He wants to happen but doesn’t happen in that moment. He hears the future cry of repentance from the people who had left Him, and it sounds like this: Jeremiah 3:21-25. The older we get in the faith, I think, the more we appreciate the nature and character of God. He is good, and we are blessed to be His children

Lesson number two. It is our responsibility to keep our hands up. No excuses. It’s our God-given job. I know a woman who got a divorce a few years ago because she believed her marriage was poisonous. So she left her husband. And the church where she attended believed she was in the wrong and read a letter to the church about her sin. And they were instructed to withdraw themselves from her, as indicated in 1 Corinthians 5. And now she is so discouraged that she can’t get herself to step foot back in a church building. So maybe she’s right that he was a horrible husband, and maybe that church wasn’t as compassionate as they ought to have been. But she will have to stand before God alone someday and explain why she had a let-down, and God’s not going to allow her to use everybody else as an excuse for why she quit. The hands need to stay up no matter how much it hurts.

Lesson number three. We’re not just keeping them up for ourselves. Exodus 17:11. Whenever Moses starting slipping, his people were prevailed upon. Who needs you to succeed? Who suffers because of your spiritual weakness? Your loved ones. Your friends and neighbors who are watching and listening. People were counting on Moses, and they are counting on us.

Lesson 4. The hands are up there calling on God for help. Moses didn’t win the war, He was seeking God up on the hill. Verse 15 says . . . Exodus 17:15-16. Your job isn’t to fight against all the demons, the sins and the temptations. That’s too big a job. It’s the Lord who fights. don’t have to defeat all of these demons that you’re fighting. Your job is to hold up your hand to the Lord and keep them up there. Keep appealing to Him for help and strength. Maintain your faith in Him. The battle was fought by God.

Finally, the last lesson is that Moses needed help to keep his hands up. Exodus 17:12. You can’t handle all of it alone. It’s too big of a job. Too much is at stake. We need to be there with you holding you up when you’re struggling. And we don’t always do the best job at that. We need to be more perceptive about the struggles of our brethren, but it’s also true that someday you’ll have to stand before God all by yourself without any of us, and so it’s important for you to reach out for help now when you need it so that those of us who are too thick-headed to see it can come hold your hands up with you.

But if you’re just going to let your hands sag alone, the battle is lost. New International Version Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. New Living Translation Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Berean Study Bible Let us hold resolutely to the hope we confess, for He who promised is faithful. King James Bible Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) International Standard Version Let us continue to hold firmly to the hope that we confess without wavering, for the one who made the promise is faithful. Aramaic Bible in Plain English And let us grasp firmly the confession of our hope and not waver, for he who has promised us is faithful. Weymouth New Testament Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our hope, for He is faithful who gave us the promises. World English Bible let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful. Young's Literal Translation may we hold fast the unwavering profession of the hope, (for faithful is He who did promise), If that is not you this morning, And the person you once were who came to the Lord in zeal and determination seems to be a distant memory, And you’re ready to reach out for help, And you fear the course that your life is currently taking, Then God can use that attitude and fill it with power. Come to Him for strength. Acts 3:19-21 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus.

Luke 2:8-14. I’d like to start by revealing a little Christmas as we’re getting close to the big day – nobody really knows when Jesus was born. These are the only clues left from history that tell us anything about the time of year that it happened – it was the season of shepherds. Whenever it was, though, it was apparently a time a great rejoicing for both heaven and earth. The angels are rejoicing, v. 13-14. The shepherds are celebrating. Luke 2:20. Further down a prophet named Simeon praises God. 2:29-32 And then the prophetess Anna in verse 38. 2:38. And I get why they would be so happy about the Son of God finally coming down to earth to bring salvation to all of us. But sometimes I try to think about what this looked like from heaven’s perspective and I wonder if this really was a happy time for God?

Here’s how Philippians describes it from heaven’s perspective. Philippians 2:7-8. For Jesus, this is the beginning of the worst part of his existence. And the angels are rejoicing, and the shepherds and celebrating it. But God has been dreading this day for centuries. Take a look at a few verses with me that we’ve looked at a little bit recently in preparation for the Lord’s supper:

Genesis 3:15 is the first hint that this would not be a good time for Jesus. This is God punishing Satan for making Adam and Eve sin: Genesis 3:15. The Lord’s gonna strike a blow to Satan’s head. So I don’t imagine the Devil was too thrilled either about Jesus coming to earth. He’s going to get his head bruised, figuratively speaking, when Jesus conquers him. And Jesus will get a bruised heel. There’s no question this fight refers to Jesus dying on the cross and defeating sin. But it’s just a bruised heel, no big deal right? Yeah right. That bruised heel consisted of all that He suffered while He was on earth. It’s so typical of scripture to understate the dread of the Lord’s sufferings. Do you know how the Bible describes the crucifixion, where Jesus was nailed to the cross and His body shut down while He suffocated to death? “And they crucified Him.” That’s it. Jesus knew what was coming all the way back in the days of Adam and Eve, while He was still in heaven.

And then there are so many symbolic things that happened in the Bible that represented Jesus’ suffering when He would come to earth. Like Abraham sacrificing Isaac back in Genesis 22 at Mt. Moriah, which is just an old name for the hill of Jerusalem. So as Jesus watched Abraham prepare to sacrifice Isaac, He must have been thinking, “That’s where I’ll die someday too.”

He knew the Passover Lamb was His story. He had to be killed to spare the people of Israel

And how many sacrifices do you think have been sacrificed over the centuries to God? Millions of animals over a couple thousand years? Maybe billions? And yet the Bible says the blood of bulls and goats can’t take away sins, Hebrews 10:4. Jesus knew those animals being killed were just foreshadowing His own death. So every animal that Jesus saw getting His throat slit was Him. And yet when the Lord saw the sacrifices offered, He would describe them as pleasant, as a “Sweet smell” coming up before Him. It’s just a bruise to the heel, it’s a pleasant aroma. It’s not a story of horror and suffering. But Jesus knows what’s coming.

A thousand years before His birth, the Lord had already predicted what His words would be on the cross in Psalm 22: Psalm 22:1 And He knew it was going to be bad: Psalm 6-8, 12-14, 16-18.

He also told us that knew when He came to earth He would: Be betrayed by his friends, Psalm 31, 55 Be hated without cause, Psalm 35 (Quoted in John 15:25) Be rejected, Psalm 118 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

One of the saddest prophesies about what it’s going to be like for Jesus on earth is in Isaiah chapter 49, which foretells how little all of His work changed people’s hearts: And Isaiah 49:1-4. Jesus later would lament how all of His miracles in Galilee accomplish nothing, And that the people refused to turn from their selfishness in John 6. And that so few responded to His gospel call.

So when it was time for Jesus to leave heaven for earth, what was the mood of heaven? When heaven watched Him empty Himself that day to take the form of a servant? I imagine it must have been something like the families of the young men leaving for war knowing there’s a good chance they won’t come home. We had friends who talked about what that was like. B.J. East leaving his wife Margaret for WW2. Gene leaving his family for Korea. What was it like for them watching their husbands and sons leave? Was it a celebration or a sorrowful moment?

That’s why it’s surprising to me that God wanted this to be a celebration. Luke 2:13-14. Heaven sent the angels. It was the beginning of the greatest suffering endured by our God, and His response is to welcome it with praise. Why would He do that? I think I know the answer. Because He so loved the world. And He chose to see this moment as our triumph rather than as His sorrow. I’ll bet when the American soldiers arrived in Europe, the British and the other allies were excited. I’ll bet the South Koreans were excited to have Gene and the other Americans join them. “Here comes the cavalry.” Here comes the Calvary.

Even Jesus, who cried and sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, chose to focus on the joy rather than the sorrow: Hebrews 12:2.

There’s so much to learn from God’s response to sending Jesus, especially about how good a Father He is to us. But one that seems very relevant for us today is the idea of choosing our focus. If God can find the joy in His own emptiness and suffering by focusing on what it all would accomplish for us, then can’t we do a better job rejoicing through our sufferings for Him? What will be the attitude that you choose? We are so blessed, let’s be like God and see that above our sufferings, especially when we are so pressured right now to focus on the problems.

Hebrews 12:2.

Ps 63:1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 122 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord.“ It’s always interesting as a song leader watching people worship their God, and the different ways people engage in worship. Some people don’t look very engaged. Some close their eyes or are expressive in other ways. Some cry. Some people are very animated, some aren’t singing at all. Some are trying to connect to the emotion of the moment, others are really trying to focus on the message they’re singing. What kind of worship is God pleased with? And are you offering Him that form of worship? I’m not talking about what other people do, but you? God wants people to have a heart for worship. Take a look with me this morning at some passages that describe Bible people who are compelled to worship God, as we look at the qualities of people who have a heart to worship God.

As I’m looking through these worship passages, one quality that stands out is a sense of aloneness that defines people who love to approach God in worship. King David said . . . Psalm 25:15-16. David’s not alone, he’s king of Israel by this time, since he’s old enough to pray forgiveness for the sins of his youth. He’s always surrounded by people. Everyone wants to be his friend. He comes from a big family. He had seven older brothers. And cousins and uncles. He’s got his children and his wives. He’s not alone, but he’s lonely. Worship is very personal and lonely. Have you ever gone to the beach at night when no one’s around, and it’s dark and quiet except for the sound of the waves breaking? That’s when we’re drawn to God. Or when hunters find themselves in the quiet woods at 5 AM in the morning. Worshiping people sense their isolation. Paul describes his sense of loneliness 2 Timothy and describes how it drew him closer to the Lord. At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:16-17) If we want to worship like David, we’ll have to do it alone even when surrounded by a church-ful of people.

Another quality of worshiping people in the Bible is that they are always hungry to go do it. O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Psalm 26:8. In Psalm 26, David was praying about some personal difficulties. Someone was accusing him of something. He begins the prayer by saying: Psalm 26:1 And he may have been in danger, since he begs God to spare his life in verse 9. What do you do to fix a bad day for you? I like a quiet night, when everyone else has finally gone to bed. Play games on my phone, do stuff on the computer, read. People like David like to go to worship. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire[c] in his temple. Psalm 27:4 says: Because they like it there. They like the presence of God. They ENJOY expressing thankfulness. It makes them feel good. They love going where God’s glory dwells. Where does God dwell? Where is His sanctuary? In His people. Today David would seek out the people of God and worship with them to feel better. With Ann & James, servants of God for 80 years. With Harold and his tender heart, and Elaine and Carol, godly women who come here by themselves to honor God. With these teenagers who already have a heart for God. There is an experience here that draws people like David to worship.

Another quality of the worshipful is that they’re looking for perspective. Psalm 39 is prayed in anger and frustration. He’s afraid that if he opens his mouth sin’s going to come out: I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.” 2 I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse. Psalm 39:2. But that doesn’t work, and so when he’s ready to explode David goes to God to help him gain a better perspective. 4 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! 5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah 6 Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing[a] they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! Psalm 39:4-6 Lord, help me to remember that it’ll all be over soon. Let me understand who I really am. There’s answers here at worship for you. Those thoughts and ideas you’re trying to find are here for you because God’s here. There’s so much more that worship can do for you, and a lot of people miss it. Another Psalmist said concerning worship, 16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Psalm 73:16-17. But people who have a heart for worship have discovered that worship makes their big huge problems and worries seem small in the presence of God.

People who have a heart for worship love it because they know it’s a way they can give the God of the universe, who has everything and needs nothing, something that He wants. Psalm 50:14-15 says . . . David said, For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:16-17. I have a sister in Washington state who has a lot of problems. When I went out to visit her a little while back, she took me to where she gets her groceries, which was a food pantry full of donated products, and you go through and get what you need for free. But there was this lady there, who seemed to know everything about Tiffany. Her kids, her problems. She asked about how she was doing, she’s on some medicine, asked about that. Offered her some of the special food that they keep separate from the other stuff. She really loved my sister and took an interest in helping her, and that meant a lot to me. It’s hard to know what to do for people like that to share your appreciation. People like David and Asaph feel like that about God. They know they need to give him something, but He owns everything, and there’s a lot of things He doesn’t like. He doesn’t really care about bulls and goats, but worship is a way to give Him something. We saw in 1 Corinthians 9 the apostle Paul struggling over this same question. What can I give to God that’s meaningful? He gave up His freedoms for God. No meat, and he became a slave to other people to win them for the gospel. Whatever it takes to let God know that I love Him. Do you use worship to show God how much He means to you?

(Just read)

One more: People who have a heart for worship find that it’s a way to beg the Lord to accept them. David says: Psalm 141:1-10. How do we know God’s gonna go with us when we go back out into the world? Help you with our mouths; keep us from wickedness; surround us with people to keep us on the straight and narrow. Worshipers don’t take for granted that God’s gonna always be with them. They worry about it. They plead with Him to stay with them. They ask Him to accept the offerings of their lips and their praise in return for His help. They’re desperate for it, they need it. And so they worship.

Do we relate to these people who have hearts for worship? Are our hearts lonely? Do we crave going to worship? Are we desperate for some better perspectives in our lives? Are we looking for something that we can give God to show Him our gratitude? Do we want to plead with Him to accept us? That’s when we’ll be people who love to worship. Let’s sing our invitation song with worship in our hearts as we plead with God for mercy. If we can help you in any way . . .

Hebrews 11:32-34. Last week we studied about a judge of Israel, Samson, whose life seemed to be full of sin yet God included him among the great men and women of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, that are held up to us as examples of who we ought to be. There are five judges included in that list, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and Samuel, who are all very flawed men. And today we’ll be looking at another from that list, Gideon, whose story of faith is almost as difficult to appreciate as Samson’s. He seems to have more flaws than faith, and yet the scripture says of him and Samson,

11:38-40.

When God first found Gideon, he was hiding down a hole from the enemies of Israel God had given Israel over to the Midianites, who were people descended from Abraham after he had married Keturah. The Midianites keep attacking Israel’s food supplies every time they’re ready to harvest it. The scripture says . . . Judges 6:4-6a. Gideon had managed to salvage some of the wheat and was done in there beating it out so that it would be edible.

And while he was down there an angel appeared with a staff in his hand, and sat under a tree nearby, and yelled over to Gideon, Judges 6:12b. Probably scared him to death! Do you think Gideon’s a mighty man of valor? Well it’s a good thing God sees inside of us where we can’t see. Gideon’s not so sure about what the angel said and responds, Judges 6:13. So this is God’s example of faith for us? Apparently it is, because God was impressed by what Gideon said . . . Judges 6:14. This is confusing! That’s his might, the understanding that God’s not doing for Israel what He did before, and the disgust that God is not with His people, and the frustration that the Lord has given them over to Midian. Judges 6:14b. But Gideon’s not fully buying into the message of this angel that he’s up to the task, and so he requests a sign, Judges 6:15-17. The Lord’s not angry about this. That’s fine, Gideon, what sign do you need? It’s OK, don’t be afraid to ask.

The Lord gave him the sign, and then gave him a job. Judges 6:25-26. And he does it, but he’s afraid of how his family and the people in the city are going to respond to him destroying their idol, so Gideon tore it down at night. He’s scared! It’s hard for me to say, “OK, so that’s the example of faith God wants me to see!” But it probably was really hard for Gideon. He wasn’t raised good like you and me. He grew up with an idol in his yard. He was surrounded by cowards and idol worshipers. People like him are going to put a lot of us to shame on judgement day when God praises their courage and wonders what happened to our faith. God was pleased with Gideon. It didn’t matter what time he knocked over the idol, it mattered that he did what God said to do.

And it seemed to give Gideon a confidence boost, because the next thing God asks him is to get an army together to fight Midian and he did it. Judges 6:33-35. The only thing was that he could only get 32,000, and Midian had 135,000. So Gideon got scared again and asked God for another sign. Judges 6:36-40. What do you notice about God in all of these interactions with Gideon? Is He mad? Is He getting impatient? Does His anger burn against Gideon? No! It’s OK, Gideon, peace be with you. He so encouraging the whole time. He so patient and gives Him everything He needs. When you’re ready to be courageous, God will be ready to encourage you. When Gideon is finally encouraged again, God breaks the news to him that 32,000 is too many people because Israel might think they actually won the battle themselves. So God sent 22,000 home and that was too many. So God sent all but 300 home. And now Gideon’s scared again. God says, Judges 7:9-15. Now he knows for sure, and he’s so ready he gets up early to go take on Midian, and brings his 32,000 against them. Now his faith is shaky already, right? So what did he think when God sent 2/3 of them home? 7:3 (I wonder if Gideon was tempted to leave too)? That was still too many for the Lord, so he sent all but 300 home, and guess what? Now our hero is afraid again! So God offers him another sign, 7:10-15. And from then on Gideon IS a valiant warrior, leading and slaying and defeating the Midianites completely.

And if that were the end of Gideon’s story I’d have no trouble understanding why he is mentioned among the greats. But that great victory is followed by some seriously poor judgement from Gideon. After the fighting, Judges 8:22-27. And then it seems like Samson he had a weakness for women. Judges 8:30-31. At the very least Gideon violates Deuteronomy 17:17. “And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.” So would you put him in YOUR “Hall of Faith,” who was cowardly at the beginning and weak at the end? God would, so we need to make sure that we understand the faith Gideon had and take it on ourselves.

There are signs of faith in Gideon throughout his story. For example, at the beginning when the angel came to him he offered up a goat to the Lord. Judges 6:19. Did you remember there was a food shortage in Israel, and Midian is after their crops and animals? That was an offering of faith, like the widow giving her last mite to the Lord. generous, widow’s mite-type offering made by Gideon. He’s got a big family to feed. Another early example of Gideon’s faith was his acknowledgement of his own littleness, when he says, Judges 6:15-16. That’s something Moses would say. It’s something Paul would say. And I’m finding it’s something that’s really hard for a lot of people to say today. I’m not important. I’m the least of my family. Maybe that’s the faith God wants us to see. Matthew 5:3, James 4:10. Also, when Gideon expressed his frustration to God in verse 13 and 14, God called that his might. Those must be words of faith. Many righteous people have asked God, “Where are you? Why aren’t you here?” Ps 22. Many wicked men have said the Lord will make us successful, 1 Kings 22:6. But the righteous admit when all is not right. Gideon was right, the Lord wasn’t with Israel, and he wanted to know why. And that’s mighty. Other people look elsewhere for answers. Many people just believe everything would be fine. Gideon knew it wouldn’t be until the Lord gave His blessing.

Gideon asking for signs to help his doubt also must have been an indicator of faith. God so readily welcomed him asking. Perhaps part of the faith is Gideon making sure this angel truly was from the Lord, since God commands us to test the spirits in 1 John 4:1. Also, God wants us to believe. If you’re having trouble with your faith, go ask God for help. “Lord I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) Go seek help from God to find a faith that is solid and built on a rock. He’s a good God, He wants you and will help you if you’ll let Him.

And then finally, even though Gideon was afraid through most of the story, he still found a way to do what he was supposed to do. It wasn’t flashy and manly tearing down his father’s altar in the middle of the night, But some people are waiting until they’re ready for greatness before they’re gonna do anything useful for the Lord, and that day is never going to come and they’re not going to do anything. Meanwhile there will be humble, untalented Christians doing a lot of work for the Lord very poorly who will someday hear, “Well done” from the Lord.

So do you see faith in Gideon interspersed among a life of sin and fear? Even towards the end, when he made the ephod for whatever reason, and married so many wives like a fool, He continued to express faith by somehow helping his people remain faithful to the Lord, Judges 8:33. Jesus once said to his apostles, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” That seems about the size of Gideon’s faith. He messed up a lot. He needed a lot of forgiveness. And maybe the greater lesson in His story is the great mercy and kindness of God. Maybe that’s the greatest lesson in the story of the lives of all people of faith. It’s not anything great they did, it’s that they found a God who was so loving and kind they were compelled to live for Him. What have you found God to be so far? Have you found God to be as patient and kind to you as He was to Gideon? "But in their distress they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.” (2 Chronicles 15:4) Whatever your need . . .

Hebrews 11:32-40. Take a look at the list of men the Bible uses to define faith for us. The world, v. 38 says, was not worthy of these people. Gideon, who hid in a wine press because he was scared, who later in life made a golden ephod that Israel worshiped and became a snare to him. Barak, who was overshadowed by Deborah because his courage had failed him along with the rest of the warriors of Israel. Samson, who had a weakness for women and often seemed to act compulsively. Jephthah, who made a vow that cost him his daughter. David, who committed adultery and covered it up with murder, And Samuel who was a poor father.

Maybe the hardest for me to see as a man of great faith is Samson, who seemed so worldly in the Bible’s description of him. There’s just so much he did wrong in his life. Other faithful people did wrong too, but they had great spiritual qualities that made up for it, like Moses who broke rules and couldn’t go into the promised land but was “more humble than any man on earth,” Or David who committed adultery but was a “man after [God’s] own heart,” Samson’s most prominent quality almost seems to be worldliness. My guess is that Samson – who slept with a prostitute and was a womanizer – probably wasn’t a role model that Israel’s parents told their children to imitate. The thing is, though, that the Bible by inspiration teaches that Samson was a man of faith and that he is now in heaven: Hebrews 11:32, 38-40. So when we look at Samson’s story, we must view him in the same way we view David and Moses and Paul, as a man of God, or we’re going to misunderstand him. Samson was a sinner, no doubt about it. He was foolish and often repeated the same sin, so we can’t overlook that. But let’s see what signs of faith we can find in him. I hope this lesson encourages others who want to please God but feel they don’t measure up to others in the faith.

Notice first that Samson grew up carrying a heavy burden from the Lord, and he accepted it. Before he was born, Samson’s parents were told that their son would have a great responsibility: Judges 13:3b-5. What is it like to know you’re the hope of your nation? What if you knew as a child that your job would be to rescue your nation from their enemies? And we know that Samson accepted it: First, because he never cut his hair, which was part of the deal: Judges 16:17. He could have said, “This is ridiculous. I’m not gonna do it. Maybe he didn’t want to be the long-haired Nazarite at times as a kid, but he accepted it. Second, we know Samson accepted his burden from God because the Bible tells us He walked with the Lord from a young age. Judges 13:25. Samson was wild and impulsive, but he was also a man of faith, which may explain why in the midst of all of sin he was living the life God had ordained for him. In chapter 14, Samson sees a Philistine woman and gets caught up in lust for her. The Bible says that God saw this as an opportunity to begin rescuing Israel from the Philistines: 14:1-4. Samson’s supposed to fight the Philistines, not chase their women, but with an assist from Samson’s lust, God gets him to accomplish his purpose. In verse 10, Samson went down to fight them: 14:10-20. So was Samson acting by faith in this story by fulfilling his responsibility to fight the Philistines, or was he acting rashly and impulsively because he’s lusting after a girl and God uses him? The answer has to be yes, God’s doing this, but Samson is recognizing his job and does it. We already saw that Samson had accepted who he was a long time ago, and he was ready to do it. Let me show you that Samson knew what he was doing. Turn to Judges 15:18. This is after another time that Samson fought the Philistines, and we see here that he hated them just like David hated Goliath, and that Samson knew he was fighting for the Lord. Judges 15:18. Why is he fighting them? Is he just impulsive? Every time somebody’s means to him, he’s gonna be mean to them? No! He’s fighting them out of faith! He’s not killing all his Jewish neighbors like this. He knows he is to deliver his people. But certainly there’s sin mixed in Samson’s life, too. Is that so hard to understand? Is that so hard to accept? Now I’m not excusing Samson for his sin. God doesn’t either and punishes him for it as we’ll see. But we need to see his faith too.

Samson was a man of faith because he was burdened by God and he accepted it. He accepted the pressure of being the savior of his nation, the great blessing for his mother, the deliverer of God’s promises, the bearer of this gift of strength that no one had ever had before or since, Which should give us some compassion for what God required of him, But he did his job zealously, He recognized that he was an instrument and servant of God. These are some signs that he did have faith.

And there are other faithful things that we know he did but aren’t recorded, because all men and women of faith do them. Like we know that at some point Samson learned about and believed in the goodness and the love of God. He studied about the Lord, prayed to Him, believed in Him and trusted Him. That defined Samson.

And the scriptures don’t show Samson crying out to God for forgiveness, but we know he did because he was a man of faith. The prayers aren’t recorded where he begs God’s forgiveness for his rendezvous with the prostitute in Gaza, or his foolishness with Delilah, but we know he prayed them because he was a faithful man. Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. Godly people pray for forgiveness.

I think many Bible students just feel like Samson was a bad person most of his life but he pulled it out at the very end and went to heaven because he prayed. But even that act seems like partly an act of revenge and partly an act of obedience to God. Read with me beginning in Judges 16. This is something that happened after Samson got tricked by Delilah, do you remember that, when he told her that if his hair is cut he won’t be strong anymore? And then she got him captured and his eyes were gouged out, Judges 16:22-30. So let me ask you: Was this an act of faith, or something that Samson wanted? God wanted it and Samson wanted it. It’s a blessing when what you want is what God wants. Maybe God chose Samson to kill the Philistines because he knew he wanted them defeated as much as God wanted them defeated.

Samson was a faithful man, but he was also a sinner, and he’s a great lesson to us about what God does to people of faith when we get caught up in sin. Samson got to go to heaven, but his sins came with severe consequences. I love how one preacher described what sin did to Samson. He said: Sin blinds Sin binds And sin grinds Sin blinds, which seems fitting for Samson who was so impulsive and could not see past his lust. He told his parents, Judges 14:2. His weakness against women blinded him against Delilah’s evil intentions. And so in the end his eyes were plucked out by the Philistines, 16:21. Sin blinds us.

Sin binds. It was the only thing that could have bound Samson. He should have been unstoppable. We should be unstoppable. Our Father is the Creator of the Universe. We’re His royal priesthood, and some day we will judge angels, and yet we get tripped up by the stupidest stuff. Only sin can bind us.

But sin also grinds. As we see in Samson’s forced labor after capture, 16:21. How much harder does sin make your life? We are burdened here, but most of it is self-inflicted. That’s just what sin does.

But if you are brought down by sin, don’t let it take away your faith! You might still end up in the Hall of Faith someday like impulsive, weak Samson. Keep fighting all the way to the end, keep wanting the same thing God wants, and you’ll make it. After Samson died, despite all of his failures they weren’t disappointed in him. His courage must have inspired his family, because they came into Canaan and stole his body back. And they buried him in the most fitting place, where the scriptures say he first encountered the Lord, between Zorahand Estrol. Judges 16:31. If you’d like to join him there, don’t think you have to be a David or a Paul or a Moses. Just be a child of God fighting a life-long battle against the flesh, pursuing the will of the Lord.

I’m pretty sure we’re all ready for 2020 to end. For whatever reason, God felt we needed to wrestle with uncertainty and insecurity, which hopefully will turn us towards Him.

James 1:1.

So I thought it would be appropriate this morning to talk about who it is that we’re coming to for help.

The One true God. God wants us to know first of all that He is the One true God, and there are no others. The Old Testament teaches: Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. Isaiah 44:6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. And even the New Testament, though we now know about the Father, Son and Spirit, continues to emphasize that God is One: 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, James 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Romans 3:30 says “ Since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.” So there’s One God. This truth is so fundamental to God that He didn’t even care to tell us that God has three parts (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) until only 2,000 years ago. Mankind for thousands of years just thought there’s only one personality in the godhead. That’s should tell us something about how important it is that we understand God is One.

But over time God blessed us with a greater understanding of His secrets. I wonder if there are more secrets we’ll learn about Him over the eternity that we’ll spend with Him in heaven. But He did reveal when Jesus came that there is more than one personality inside of Him. First, there’s the Father. We know He’s the leader that the other two look to for guidance and direction. 1 Corinthians 11:3. The Father is the decision maker. The scriptures say concerning Jesus that . . . Christ did not seek his own will, but the will of his Father (John 5:30). His teaching was not his, but the Father’s (John 7:16). He came not of himself, but was sent of the Father (John 7:28; 8:42). The Father, it seems, is the one making the plans for everything, even making some that He didn’t reveal to His Son. Matthew 24:36.

And then there’s the Son, who is subject to the Father. Jesus the Son has been around as long as the Father has. We know they’re both God and both eternal because of many scriptures like Micah 5:2 and John 1:1 and Colossians 1:16. And I believe this is the relationship they’ve always had. The passage in 1 Corinthians 15:28 indicates that Jesus has long been subject to the Father. He came to earth to do His Father’s will, John 6:38. But He has His own personality and His own wants that He manages through trust and subjection. You can see Him praying for His followers in John 17:15, 21. He’s not demanding that God do certain things, He’s not the one making the decision what happens to them. But whatever the Father decides will be pleasing to Him. The same thing is seen in the garden of Gethsemane. Not My will but Yours be done. That’s how unity and subjection works, and Christ has always been subject to the Father.

And then the Spirit is His own unique personality as well. And He seems to be subject to Christ. When Jesus left the earth, He then sent the Holy Spirit to work among God’s people, according to John 16. John 16:13-14. And He continues to work among us. And the Holy Spirit has His own thoughts and personality as well. In Acts 15:28 The Holy Spirit thought something was good. In Acts 1:16, the Holy Spirit spoke through King David. In Ephesians 4:30, He gets upset. Someday it will be a blessing to hear more from the Holy Spirit and better understand who He is. He will be a Lord and friend and family to us when we meet Him in person. But for now we know He is His own person, He’s been sent to us to help us and guide us. And He is part of God.

Do you ever think about how long eternity is going to be when the heavens and the earth are gone and we are living with the Lord forever? Well that’s the length of time that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have already existed together, having only each other. Even though we’re not introduced to the Trinity until the New Testament, there were hints about it in the Old Testament. And when Jesus explained it to the Jews, they seemed to have no resistance to it. Maybe it’s because of the Old Testament hints. For example, from the beginning God described Himself using a plural word, the Hebrew word “Elohim.” I’ve heard and read that Elohim is kind of like when Kings and Queens talk with the “Royal We.”

Like this: “We are not amused.” The Queen’s just talking about herself, but uses “We.” People use “we” for themselves when they’re powerful, and God has always done that. It doesn’t necessarily imply plurality, but it certainly was a hint.

Ellicott’s Commentary and many other scholars see it as a “foreshadowing of the plurality of persons in the Divine Trinity.” See what you think from these scriptures. Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7. These are all the word Elohim. Also, some of the verses about the Messiah hint at the Trinity at the Old Testament by describing Him as having divine qualities. Micah 5:2 says that He is from eternity, just like God. And Psalm 110:1 indicates that the Messiah is greater than King David, which Jesus explains was a hint that He existed before David in Matthew 22.

The Jews seemed to accept the Trinity so easily. I would have thought it would be difficult for them after believing for so long that God is one. But Nathaniel in John 1 acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God. Peter. Martha. Thomas calls Him God. Apparently it wasn’t a contradiction for them.

For some people today, though, it’s impossible to accept that God is both One and Three, and so they try to explain it away. For example, one way that people have tried to explain this is that maybe Jesus really isn’t God. Sure, He’s superior to all of us, but maybe God just made Him long ago in the beginning. Before He made the heavens and earth and man, He made Jesus. This idea has been around for a long time, all the way back to the days of a priest named Arius from the 4th century AD. And it’s still around today. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons still believe this. And it does solve the problem of making sense of the Trinity, but it ignores the scriptures that teach Jesus being God, so that’s a problem (John 1:1, Colossians 1:16).

A second idea is that God is One person, but that He comes to us in different ways depending on the need of the moment. For a long time He came to us as a Father. But then there was a need for Him to appear to us as a Son, and then finally as the Holy Spirit. But they’re all the same person, just playing different roles based on what is needed.

The problem with this theory is that sometimes all three of the Trinity appear together in scripture. Like at Mary’s pregnancy, when the scripture says (Luke 1:35). Or at Jesus’ baptism . . . And when Stephen was stone, the scripture says . . . (Acts 7:55-56).

I think it’s just best to accept that God is One in ways beyond our understanding, but that He is also three personalities, and just wrestle with that concept. (Read). So there’s lots of different possibilities, probably all of which fall short.

But all of these examples illustrate a perfect unity in the godhead. Three persons each with their own wants and wishes who share just one will. Can you imagine three personalities becoming so unified that there’s no need to even distinguish them for thousands of years? Who have their own thoughts and wants, but are able to submit to each other so fully that every decision is perfectly agreed upon? Even the Father, to whom the others submit, makes every decision with love, which is just another form of submission. And this is the unity God expects of us. John 17:20-22. If we’re going to be God’s people, then we have to practice the oneness of the Trinity. Ephesians 5:21 says to submit to one another.

Maybe someday we’ll become so engulfed in love for God, and submission to Him, that we can’t be distinguished from Him or each other, either. It’s a neat thought to imagine how close we will be someday to the Lord. Until then, we’ll just have to appreciate the unity of our God, and respect Him and be curious enough to draw closer to Him and learn more about Him.

Matthew 4:8-10.

We’ve got a big election coming up this week that I think all of us are worried about, and so it was a pretty easy decision to decide what to preach about this morning. We are all where we need to be right now, leaning on God together while seeking his answers and comfort.

Jesus and the Devil talked about politics, in a sense, in the Matthew 4 passage where the Lord was tempted. “I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world if you will fall down and worship me.” This tells us three things. First, that Jesus wanted those Kingdoms. Otherwise this wouldn’t have been a temptation. He wanted control of all of them. Second, even though the Lord wanted to rule over them, this was not the way to get them. The Lord has another plan to take control of them. And third, the devil rules over the kingdoms of earth.

I think these presidential elections torment Christians because we are desperate to live in a godly nation. And we see a possibility of that if everything breaks the right way, But we’re also discouraged that so many Americans do not value what God values. So we’re praying hard – God take our country in a godly direction. This has been the prayer of Christians in every election this country has ever had. Christians have always been concerned about where we’re headed. During the election of 1800, one newspaper article raised the question about what might happen if "such a man as Thomas Jefferson were to hold the reins of government," since Jefferson was not really religious. The writer prophesied: "In a short time, licentiousness and immorality would meet with the most public approbation, every restraint would soon be thrown off, and men would soon bring themselves to be infamous debauchees, assassins, cheats, thieves, liars, hateful and hating one another, a curse upon the earth.“ On July 4, 1798, the congregational minister who was president of Yale delivered a ringing condemnation of Jefferson's supposed atheism. So we’d be wrong to think Christians were happy about the early years of our country. They wanted us to do better. Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.

If the devil offered to give this nation over to you, would you be tempted? Matthew 4:8-9. (Insert us there) You could make the laws, you could make the much needed changes that so far haven’t come. You could get some of the good things back, and go even further. So who wouldn’t be tempted by this? Jesus was tempted. I’m not sure for the riches because He has much better stuff in heaven. But to have the nations under His control sure would have made things so much easier. Someday the Lord will take control of the nations from the devil completely, it’s already been prophesied: Psalm 2:7-9. But the devil makes it easy for Him; I’ll just give them to you right now, just fall down and worship me and it’s yours. So that feeling you have when you’re desperate to take back the reigns from this county, it was a temptation for Jesus too.

I’ve often thought that it’s really not our place as Christians to concern ourselves with politics. That’s probably overstating it though because even though Jesus didn’t become political when He came to earth, and took any interest that we know of in elections or overthrowing governments, or fix Rome’s legal system or bring social justice to the marginalized, The Bible does say that He came to establish His own Kingdom which would crush all the others, And He did try to bring big changes to Israel and Rome, By telling big audiences about the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders, Matthew 23:28. And reaching out to the poor (Matthew 11:5), though He made it clear that He wasn’t interested in eradicating poverty, Matthew 26:11. And telling everybody about His moral views against stealing, sexual sins like adultery and homosexuality. And if that’s how it is in His Kingdom, of course He would want it that way in every Kingdom. So I think it’s wrong to say that Jesus was totally opposed to politics.

But what is our role in taking control of the nation? What can we learn from Jesus’ refusal to receive control of the Kingdoms by bowing down to the devil? One easy lesson is that there is a right way and a wrong way for us to go about moving this nation toward God. We can’t try to do it with ungodly means. Like cheating. Some people are talking about ballot fraud. We can’t do that. Lying. How much of politics is saying half truths to get people on your side? Intimidating. Rage. Why do the peoples rage? We don’t rage. The ungodly rage, Psalm 2. Not us. We can’t take the nation by bowing down to the devil.

And we can’t take it by force either. In John 6 some people tried to force Jesus to take the throne, and He refused. John 6:15. Wouldn’t it be great if we could force God to come down to the United States and use all of His power to force this government to change? That’s not His way, and it shouldn’t be ours. Governments can set laws requiring people to be moral or they would be punished. If we were in charge, that’s what would happen. We could force people to be moral, But Jesus didn’t care for force while He was on earth. He taught and rebuked and exhorted. And hoped people would listen.

The nation of Rome in Jesus’ day was evil and going in the wrong direction. Abortion was legal, exposure was also legal; gladiator games were acceptable, immorality was everywhere, leaders were greedy and took advantage of others. And the way Jesus, the King of Kings destined to rule all nations, attempted to bring change to Rome and Israel was to do what? Persuade, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. I’m going to vote this week for the guy that I think will do the most to fight back against the devil. But He’s no Jesus. And the thing I can do that’s much more valuable than vote is to persuade. While the world fights for power and control of everything, we need to take a different approach. The beatitudes in Matthew chapter five present the contrast between the world fighting for power, and the Lord’s people succeeding with gentleness and humility. Matthew 5. That’s the salt and light our country needs right now.

And while we’re the salt and light, who’s running this country? Well, we know the answer is God. Psalm 2 makes that clear, 2:1-2. So right now Jesus sits on His throne of thrones. And sometimes He might choose to put an ungodly leader in power for His own reasons, like He did with Pharaoh, raising him up to display the power of the Lord, or Cyrus, or King Saul.

But the devil still has a say-so. He is the god of this world, 2 Corinthians 4:4. He is the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2:2. He is the ruler of this world, John 12:31. And so we are fighting an uphill battle to reclaim this nation for the Lord.

And we are very limited in our power. We have our character, and truth, and prayer, and a vote, and that’s pretty much it.

And whatever happens on Tuesday, the people of God must not get overly excited or overly discouraged, Because we’ve got to trust in God that there’s a certain way to take a Kingdom, and He’s got His plan in motion already to make it happen. And it won’t be from an election. The Kingdom of God is growing in power, and soon it will take over all the other kingdoms, but not yet. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1). Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, Hebrews 12:28. If my guy wins on Tuesday, it’s gonna feel good, and if the other guy wins, I’m gonna need to eat some ice cream or something. But either way, let’s trust that God is on His throne.

Good morning. We’ve been having conversations the last few weeks about church growth and evangelism. This morning we’re studying a revival that happened in Jerusalem 2500 years ago. Let me begin by testing your memories. What is the book of Nehemiah about? Israel rebuilding their wall around Jerusalem, finally, decades after the Babylonians destroyed it. Their whole city looked like a wreck. They just let that wall sit on the ground, these huge rocks and boulders, this symbol of their failure, for years and years. And if they needed to go anywhere, they’d just walk around the rubble or through it, content to remain broken and ashamed. The hero of the story is Nehemiah, who understood that the wall was more than just a nuisance. And this is the most important point of the story. He knew that wall was the key to Israel’s spiritual revival. If he was going to change the hearts of his fellow Jews, it was going to start with the resurrection of that wall.

Nehemiah didn’t care about the wall, He makes that clear at the beginning when he prays to God about the real problem in Jerusalem he wants to see fixed: He says, “Lord,” . . . 1:6-7.

(Continue)

It’s Israel’s sin problem that concerns him, not a wall on the ground. And his true ambition throughout the book was to get the people to move toward God, so that God would accept them again: He prays . . . 1:8-11.

1:9

1:10

1:11

So if their problem is sin, why did he start with the wall? Let me show from the scriptures five reasons starting with the wall brought a spiritual revival in Israel, and what that means for this church today.

Number one: The wall was the most visible symbol of their shame and reproach. Look at Nehemiah 2:17-18. (Read) Every day the citizens would leave their homes for work, traveling through piles of rocks and dirt and debris, and just accept that’s who they were. I have a client who has a huge pile of trash in his front yard. They haven’t removed trash in over a year. That’s just how they live now. It’s part of their lives. Wouldn’t you be embarrassed for everyone to see that? What is your most visible spiritual reproach, that taunts you every day, that is a relentless reminder of your fleshliness? Right now you’re thinking about it. “I’ll never be the Christian I know I should be until I” what? Study more often? Then that’s your wall. Find a way. I’ll study with you if that will motivate you. Did some moral failure come to mind? That’s your wall. Get that part of your life restored. What is it? What’s ours as a church? Sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin. It can be overwhelming just thinking about all of the big changes we need to make. Israel had lots of spiritual problems that needed to be addressed. Where do you begin? Chapter 5 – The rich were taking advantage of the poor. Chapter 8 – We learn the people didn’t know God’s Law and had been neglecting it. Chapter 10 – We learn they had been neglecting their religious responsibilities. Chapter 13 – We learn that many of them were in unscriptural marriages. Those people were going to have to separate from their wives and husbands. They were way worse off than us! It must have been overwhelming. Where do you begin? Nehemiah knew how to fix it. First, build back the wall - whatever is that great reproach, that most obvious spiritual shame or discouragement.

Reason number two: Starting with the wall was thing that got the restoration moving, and Nehemiah understand that was going to happen. I said at the beginning of the lesson that Nehemiah is about building a wall, but that’s not really true. The wall is completed in chapter 6 and there’s 13 chapters in the book - so what’s the rest of the book about? Flip through with me. In Chapter 7, the people are reorganized by tribe, and the priests and Levites are identified so that the proper people can lead their worship. In Chapter 8 the Law is read and Feast Days are celebrated. In Chapter 9 the people confess their sin. And in Chapter 10 they commit themselves to God’s will. In Chapter 12 they worship. And then in Chapter 13 Tithes are restored and Sabbath day is restored. So why did all of that happen? Well it all started with a wall! Isn’t that amazing that building a wall can do all that? Think about why the wall led to all of that. What might our wall be?

Reason number three: Starting with the wall helped rebuild their faith. Notice that from the beginning Nehemiah is making a connection between the wall and faith: Nehemiah 2:18. The higher it went, the closer to God they would be. And just think about why their faith grew: Nehemiah comes to their city out of the blue sent by the King. Miraculously the whole city joins together to build a wall. Their enemies try to stop them but are successfully fended off. And though the scripture says their strength was failing, they are able to push through and finish it in just 52 DAYS! There’s no way a wall around Jerusalem could be built today in 52 days. How long should something like that take? So everything about that wall was one miracle after another! They weren’t building a wall, they were building faith. We need to see signs that God is with us and will bless our success too. And pray like Nehemiah did that God will send us what we need for growth. The wall rebuilt their faith from the beginning.

4th, The wall was a rallying point. This point applies to a group, like a church. When we need to grow, when our problems are all over the place, and we don’t know where to begin, what can we do? The answer is that we need to find a starting place where we all will come together and pitch in. A rallying point is, “A point or principle on which scattered or opposing groups can come together.” You’re always going to have lots of perspectives and opinions and needs in a large group. So we need to find the thing that brings us all together and start there: Nehemiah is the “Next to him” chapter, where everybody is shoulder to shoulder getting that wall built. Young and old, skilled and unskilled, everybody finds something to do: 3:6-8, 12, 22. What’s it going to be that pulls all of us together? I can do this, and you can do that, but what project can we all work on together?

And then finally, reason number 5. Think about the environment for revival created by rebuilding that wall! Look around from inside that city once the wall is up, that you had seen on the ground your whole life, that was never going to get fixed. But now look - what do you see? You see the hand of God. It’s the only explanation. Mountains have been moved, seas have been divided just like the time Israel was led out of Egypt. And now you’re safe for once in your life. Behind that wall of faith, now you have a sense of safety and security to take the next steps that you know you need to take. But now you know you can do it and you won’t be alone along the way. Do you see it?

First, build a wall. What’s your wall? Your most visible shame and reproach? What’s going to be your turning point, that jumpstarts your restoration, that will rebuild faith, and create a rallying point, create the safe environment for your soul to do greater things? I would love to see new faces joining us here, and regular Bible studies with people. And my prayer is that God will help us, and that He will lead us all to people who are wanting to learn. Acts 22:16.

Good morning, please open your Bibles to Psalm 88 as we begin a study this morning about not losing heart in prayer.

This is maybe the most unusual psalm in the Bible because it ends on a negative note. Psalm 88. What a depressing prayer. Why is this even in here? And the man in the prayer, Heman, says he’s been praying this prayer every day since his youth without receiving a response from the Lord.

I suspect one reason it’s in there is to remind us never to give up on prayer. It’s the same lesson Jesus teaches in Luke 18:1 when He says that we always ought to pray and not lose heart. Or 1 Thessalonians 5:17 commands to pray without ceasing. “Wait for the Lord,” says Psalm 27:14. “Wait patiently for him,” Psalm 37:7. It’s important that we’re able to do this because Jesus says this is how God reads our faith. James and I remember back playing football that there was nothing worse than a quitter. God wants to know if we have the faith to always continue prayer.

Please turn to Luke 18, and read this parable with me, beginning in verse 1. Luke 18:1-8. The lesson is to pray over and over again. But what does that do? Annoy God into answering us? I met a client a couple of weeks ago who is having trouble keeping her kids under control. They bully her until they get what they want. And while I was at her house, she was eating some toast, and she had this little dog who kept jumping on her and barking at her while we were talking. So finally she had enough and threw the dog some of her toast. And I said look what you just did. Next time I want you to just sit in the feeling of that dog barking at you and don’t give it anything. She couldn’t do it. Is that how prayer works? Are we the dog and God can’t stand us bothering Him? No! God’s nothing like the judge in this parable. The judge is unrighteous, verse 6. God is just, verse 7. The judge acted after a long time of being pestered. God does not delay, verse 7. He acts quickly, verse 8. The judge did not respect people, verse 2. God loves His elect.

This parable contrasts God with this judge, teaching us that if this wicked man will listen to his people, then of course our compassionate God will answer us. Kind of like the contrast in Matthew 7:11. Matthew 7:11.

Really, this parable isn’t about God. It’s about us. Notice that it begins and ends about us: We ought to pray and not lose heart, 18:1. And “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8. This parable is asking two questions aboutus that are answered based on how our prayer lives look.

Number 1. How passionate is our faith, according to our prayer lives? Saints who can plead their needs to God over and over without quitting express the kind of faith God’s looking for. The man who prayed Psalm 88 was a man of great faith, then. Those of us who can pray about the same distress for years are beloved by God. I read a story not too long ago about an employer who would always do his hiring interview at a restaurant. He had a test he would use for potential employees. He would show up late and instruct the waiter to make a mistake in the service of the person he was interviewing to see how he would respond. If he berated them waiter or handled himself badly, that told the employer all he needed to know and wouldn’t hire him. That was his test. God’s test is prayer, and that’s scary. When we don’t pray, then our heart is revealed to God. 18:1. When we don’t pray with the passion of the widow in this parable, then we’re like so many others in the world without faith. Jesus ends the parable by asking, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” And what will the Son be looking for according to this parable? People who are crying out to their God. We need to view our prayer life as a gauge of our hearts and our faith. And if our prayer life is weak, we don’t need to pray more, we need to increase our faith. Then we will pray with passion. We’re not being lazy when we don’t pray. God’s not calling it a lack of discipline. He says we’re losing heart. We’re lacking in faith. When we first started as a Christian, were we more zealous about our prayers? Did we do more pleading with God, “Lord, help me to not leave you! Help me to be disciplined! Save me from unrighteousness, from this sin that so easily entangles me!” But maybe the hope for help and answers wears off after a while. Because it seems like we’re not doing any better, we’re not any stronger. Like Heman we start thinking, “Lord when are you going to do something?” And then eventually we stop asking.

The second question from this parable about our prayer lives is: Have we lost heart in prayer? Luke 18:1. “Not losing heart” means we believe God’s working on it, and it’s gonna be fine. On day 1, the first time you prayed that prayer, God set a plan in motion. From years ago when you first asked it, God heard your prayer and He set about a plan for helping you. Do you believe that? Daniel chapter 10 tells a story about Daniel praying about something that was very disturbing to him. He mourned and prayed about it for three weeks. He couldn’t eat it was so disturbing to him. But then God sent an angel to Daniel about it on the 24th day, and the angel said: Daniel 10:12. So when did God answer Daniel’s prayer? On the first day! God had already heard and set things in motion. That’s how God works. Daniel didn’t know what God was doing, so he kept praying day after day. We don’t know what God is doing. Maybe there needs to be a delay for some reason. Jesus even mentions the possibility of a delay in His parable, in verse 7: Luke 18:7. It won’t be long, but sometimes He delays for various reasons. We need to wait on Him in the delay.

Psalm 27:14.

Or maybe there’s lessons to learn during the delay from a Father who is disciplining us. Hebrews 12:7.

Whatever you do, don’t quit praying. And if you stopped, or backed off of it, I hope that concerns you. Because our passion for prayer is a sign of our hearts. And when the Son of Man comes back, he’ll know the faithful by their prayers day and night. It’s time that we find the heart we used to have where prayed all the time, when we ate, when we put our kids to bed at night, before a test, when we were scared, before we got sick of those Facebook prayer requests and chain emails, before we got discouraged, before we got out of the habit. Or if we’ve never prayed like we should be doing, the good news is we’re still alive, we still have a chance. But the Son of Man is coming back, and those of us whose faith has grown cold will be rejected. Are you in need of a God who answers prayer this morning? If so then you need to get right with Him so He can help you. Be baptized into Christ this morning.

Colossians 1:16 says . . . What do you imagine to be more spectacular: The visible creation, with stars and galaxies beyond what we can see, billions of light years across, Or the unseen part of creation that the Lord created, with heaven and hell and the throne of God, and the angels ascending and descending onto the earth? God promises the unseen world is the better country that we’re looking for, as awesome as our universe is. What if you had the ability to somehow open a gateway to the other side and take a peek at it right now?

There was a man in the Bible who was given that opportunity one day, and I’d like to use his story to get you thinking about what’s going on around us right now in the unseen world. And I’d hope you’ll better understand why God uses so many resources from the unseen world to surround each of us.

Back in the days of Elisha, there was a King in this part of the world (near Damascus), which was called Aram at the time, who was at war with Israel. He wanted to kill Israel’s king, and devised several secret plans to do so. But every time he tried one, the prophet Isaiah would miraculously know about it and send word to the King of Israel, and the king of Aram would fail. He was furious. So an idiotic plan came to his mind – I’ll go after Elisha instead. That way he won’t keep revealing my plans! Do you see any problem with that plan? He found out that Elisha was staying in Dothan, a little north of Jerusalem. So he sent a huge group of soldiers and chariots, and they surrounded Dothan early in the morning. Elisha had an assistant back in those days helping him with day to day activities, and he got up that morning and went outside and saw them. And he panicked. They’ve found us! We’re dead, Elisha what do we do? But Elisha doesn’t panic. Let me set the scene (with some poetic license). Elisha made eye contact with his servant and gave him a little chuckle. He then proceeded to leisurely go back into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee, then outside onto the front porch, took a seat in his favorite chair with his coffee in hand, stretched and put his feet up on the table. Then he took a sip and almost looked bored while observing the vast army of the Aramians. 2 Kings 8:8-17. There’s not many sermons I remember from my childhood, but that sermon ever since has caused me to wonder what I would see if the Lord opened my eyes right now. And I don’t mean if He took me to heaven or showed me hell or some far-off place. There’s something going on all around us, here in this place. Are there fiery chariots? Are there angels all over the place doing the work of the Lord? How far from us is the nearest demon? Where’s the devil prowling around right now? What does temptation look like behind the scenes? There is a world of activity going on behind the veil that we are not permitted to see.

Those chariots were sent to protect Elijah. And they’re sent to help us, too. That fact is all over scripture. Like Hebrews 1:14, That reminds us an angel’s role is to help the people of God. Hebrews 1:14. Maybe God doesn’t send the chariots specifically, but he does send the angels to look after us and provide for us and help us.

Do you remember the devil quoting this verse to Jesus to get Him to jump off the temple? It’s from Psalm 91, and it’s a promise to all of God’s people, not just our Lord. Listen: Psalm 91:1-12 (emphasis on whoever). They’re looking after us. Also in Matthew 18:10 Jesus speaks of the angels protecting the little ones.

In the unseen world, the bad guys don’t want to mess with the good guys. Because the good guys are God’s fiercest warriors serving us weak, frail children of God. But there’s an important lesson in the story of Elisha about why they’re with us that we need to see. These heavenly beings weren’t surrounding Elisha because he was frail. They were looking after him because he was formidable.

Do you remember that Elisha began as the servant of Elijah? Elijah was so dangerous that when God snatched him up into heaven, Elisha called him the chariots and horsemen of Israel! Which in today’s language would be like saying, “The tanks and the marines of America.” I can imagine some great soldier dying being called America’s great weapon. Elijah was the chariots and horsemen of Israel. He was dangerous. He wreaked havoc on Israel because of their wickedness. He prayed to God for draught and God listened to him. He battled 400 prophets of the false god Baal and obliterated them, after mocking them all first about their god maybe being on vacation or in the bathroom. And then when Elisha went up into heaven, he gave a double portion of that spirit and power to his servant Elisha. So now what kind of dangerous was Elisha then?

Before that he wasn’t. When God first called him, he suffered from a divided heart for a moment like some of us struggle with. So if you’re not feeling very dangerous in God’s Kingdom right now, the good news is many before you struggled for a while too. 1 Kings 19:20 says that when Elijah came to anoint Elisha, he said . . . 1 Kings 19:20.

Later, Jesus would use this as an example of lack of commitment. In Luke 6:61, Luke 9:61-62. Elisha struggled like many of us to get laser-focused.

But he figured it out. The scripture says: 1 Kings 19:21. I think that’s a great symbol of commitment, don’t you? My sister likes the line in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, “Shoot him, cut out his tongue and then shoot his tongue.” Leave no doubt.

Elisha put in his time learning and serving under Elijah, pouring water over His hands, the scripture says.

But when it was his time to be dangerous, he accepted the challenge of being Israel’s prophet. But with all of that status and power came lots of needy people to be cared for.

The other prophets immediately start calling on him for help. 2 Kings 2:19-22.

Then the King of Israel comes looking for him because the Moabites attacked, and Elisha’s now the chariots and horseman of Israel, and has to come to their aid in 2 Kings chapter 3. Then he has to help a prophet’s widow. He was the father of Israel in so many ways, burdened with the task of taking care of them. So it’s no wonder God had him surrounded with those angels that we read about at the beginning of the lesson. Because he was expected to fulfill a great responsibility. What if God opened your eyes to see the resources He has provided for you to complete your responsibilities here in this place? What might you see? Is it justified? You’ve got angels because you’re tasked with a tremendous responsibility, to go into the world. We need to do our job. They need us out there, whether they know it or not.

Finally, Elijah wasn’t just the nurturer of Israel. He was the warrior of Israel. He called on God to send bears after a group of boys who mocked him. Mauled 42 of them. The king of Israel threatened to cut off his head one day because Elisha didn’t stop the Arameans from attacking Israel. Such things don’t bother a warrior. He did whatever it took to bring righteousness and truth to Israel.

The people of God need to be surrounded by the armies of God because they are dangerous to the world. Can you see them? Do you know they’re coming and going? Do you believe in the unseen world? Do you also believe the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking to destroy you? If so, are you ready to come under God’s protection? He’ll provide forgiveness and mercy and love and every help you’ll need for the journey. What are you waiting for?

Matthew 21:23-27. It’s fascinating watching Jesus interact with the people of His day. How He makes them think, how He gets at their emotions and prejudices. Like He did when healing the paralytic that came through His roof. Do you remember what He said when his friends put him down in His living room? “Your sins are forgiven.” What? That’s not why they brought the guy to Jesus, was it? Or when Jesus told the family of a dead girl, “She’s not dead, only asleep,” knowing full well that statement would cause Him ridicule. And what’s this conversation about between Jesus and the Jewish leaders? What game is he playing here? Well, it’s the same game Jesus played every time He opened His mouth. He was always working towards the same goal with every conversation. Why do you talk to people? Your kids, your sister. A stranger at the store. A salesperson at your door. A neighbor. Lots of reasons, right?

When Jesus talked to people, there was always ultimately just one goal. Matthew 5:14-16. I believe there are two prevailing themes in the way Jesus talked to everyone He encountered, and they are themes that need to be in all of our conversations with people as well. Like Jesus, we must always talk to people with purpose and tact.

We Should Always Talk To People With Spiritual Purpose. And every single word needs to count towards that purpose. Do you think God has ever wasted a Word, or uttered a Word that did not follow some deeper plan or pattern or purpose? Sometimes we wonder when reading some of those Old Testament books that don’t feel so important or just repeat the same thing over and over. But that’s our failure, not God’s. All of that has significance.

2 Timothy 3:16

Matthew 4:4

I had an old truck back in Alabama that blew a head gasket. And I didn’t have money to fix it, so I went onto the internet to learn how to fix it myself. I ordered the gasket and got started. Ended up having to take the head to a machine shop and clean it up, but I got it put back together. Well when I got done, I had a few parts left over. Is that bad? The truck ran and I didn’t have a clue where they went. So they weren’t important, right? The same is true with the book of Numbers or any part of the Bible that seems unimportant. We just haven’t grown enough to see it. Have you ever thought about how much God could have included in the Bible? How many more stories there were out there. How much He could have expanded verses like: Genesis 1:1 “And they crucified Him” From Joseph to Moses God does not waste Words. Let’s look at an example of a thoroughly thought-out interaction by Jesus with a person that He wants to save. Turn to John 4.

John 4:7-26.

Everything Jesus did with her had purpose. What were the steps that He used to win her soul? Let me suggest five things:

Everything Jesus did with her had purpose. What were the steps that He used to win her soul? Let me suggest five things: First, Jesus attracted Her with His light by surprising her with goodness, John 4:7-9. She could see that something was different about Him. It takes some thought to do this with each person and each circumstance. What did Jesus have to work with? There was a well. He was thirsty. She was a Samaritan, He was a Jew. He could use that tension to make an impression. She’s tired of making the trip to draw the water. The cultural norm was for Jesus not to interact with her because she was a Samaritan and a woman. Let’s surprise people by not discounting them or dismissing them. Being interested in talking to her is all it took. That caught her off guard. Be interested in people. They won’t know what to do with that. Acknowledge that you see their burdens. Let’s not talk about our burdens, let’s talk about theirs. Jesus communicated to her that He saw value in her and wanted to help her. What do we want to communicate to people? What do they see in you? Is it, “I’ve got my own problems.” “It’s all about me” “You’re not worth my time.” “Let’s just get the business done that created our interaction. I’m not really comfortable talking to you.” We need to find the interaction that will make them ask, “What’s different about this person? ( Ginnelle’s example). What they’re really sensing that you’re communicating to them is that you love them.

Next, Jesus found a way to reach her soul. John 4:10. Now all of the sudden this is a spiritual conversation. “Do you know God? Once we’ve got their attention and they’re trying to figure us out, let them know why we’re different. Take a risk and tell them about church, and your faith. I don’t have much going for me but I have God, I have hope. I remember a preacher named Harold Comer talking in a sermon about making gentle touches with people. He saw a lady with a wig on at a department store and moved the conversation to prayer. He saw a parent doing a good job with their kids in a McDonald’s, and asked if they went to church. I once spent some time with a preacher in Athens, Georgia named David Tant, son of Yater Tant. He took me on a route that he had built up over time and went on regularly. It included Starbucks, a grocery store and a few other places. And he had targeted some workers at each place. He wouldn’t talk to the others. They all knew he was a preacher and that he was interested in their souls. He had a question that he used each time to feel the person out and build that spiritual bridge. Do you know what he would say? “Where do you go to church?” That’s it, and it worked! Let’s find a way to turn the conversation towards bringing people to the Lord.

Next, Jesus contrasted the spiritual life and the earthly life. John 4:13-14. This woman was tired of having to come her every day to bring water to her family. It was difficult and dangerous and tedious, every single day, I don’t want to do this any more. That’s what we want to tap into with people, and then make the great promise of eternal fulness. People are tired of the world, especially right now. We need to talk more about how we can tap into that in our community and show the alternative.

The next thing Jesus did was expose her sin. John 4:16-18. And He was so tactful about it! “Can I talk to your husband?” That affected her. It was convicting. It’s what happens when David Tant asks people, “Where do you go to church?” I don’t go like I should. It may just happen by their observations of us. You’re the one that doesn’t cuss. You’re the one that isn’t interested in dirty jokes. We can’t convert people who aren’t able to see their sin. Ginnelle’s example perhaps produces the same result, revealing flaws in people’s lives that need to be corrected. But make sure they consider their own sin in some way. Finally, Jesus concludes this conversation by teachingin love, John 4:21-24. What a great opportunity he had to blow her out of the water! “Oh, your church serves coffee! You asked for this. Jesus didn’t do that. He was very gentle and matter of fact. So our purpose, then, is to stand out, talk about spiritual things, contrast the spiritual and physical life, expose and teach. No other purpose will do.

Finally, Jesus concludes this conversation by gently and lovingly correcting. John 4:21-24. He really could have blasted her. She didn’t even know that salvation came from the Jews! She didn’t even believe in the importance of Jerusalem. Jesus, let her have it! Right now, a sign of the times is letting people have it! Usually not to their faces, but online, or we watch the leaders that we like rip apart the other side. We’re going to stand out by being gentle with people. We’re going to stand out by NOT getting overly emotional about their faults and flaws. We’re going to teach in love because that’s what works and that’s how Jesus did it. Everything Jesus did here was laser-focused on bringing her to the Lord, and no other approach is going to work. You don’t convert people accidentally. We have to be intentional.

We’ve got to figure out a way to connect to people to bring them to the Lord. And it’s not going to happen by accident. We will have to make it our mission to draw as many to the Lord as we can. Let’s pray that God blesses our efforts to do so.

Luke 14:16-18a.

This whole chapter in Luke 14 is filled with excuse-busting teachings by Jesus challenging us to accept responsibility or be replaced. I’ll bet we can all think of times when we made some whoppers of excuses to explain away our lack of irresponsibility. I remember trying to get out of doing the dishes as a kid by telling my parents I just wasn’t motivated to do them. I had just learned that word. They didn’t buy it. I’ll bet we’re going to hear some amazing excuses by folks on judgement day from people who are embarrassed about what they did during their lives. How come you didn’t study the Bible very much? Why didn’t you take advantage of the church assemblies more often? Why’d you lose your temper so often with people who needed to hear the gospel from you instead? Our approach to being Christians has to be a no-excuses approach, unlike the people we’re going to see here in chapter 14.

Take a look at the first verses in Luke 14:1-6. And notice how the Pharisees justified not helping people on the Sabbath day. Do you ever use rules to get out of responsibilities? I read a story about a worker at the Costco optometry department who would only speak to people when their number was called. So a young mother tried to get his attention in between customers one day, “Excuse me?” “Ma’am, you’ll need to take a number.” OK, so she took a number, and then her little baby had a messy diaper explosion. She just wanted to ask where the bathroom was, but he refused to talk to her because the rule was take a number. The Pharisees loved rules, and maybe the reason was rules gave them an excuse to avoid responsibilities. I don’t have to help you today, because God said don’t do work on Sabbath day. It’s going to be amazing hearing people use this excuse on judgement day. They were so busy following the rules that they neglected the people who needed their help. Are we too busy with all of the responsibilities God has given us to be the healers and the teachers? With work and family responsibilities and we have to obey the rules about Covid right now. We can also be great at avoiding our responsibilities by claiming that there wasn’t technically a command given about it. You didn’t say I had to come to every church service. You didn’t say I had to know the story of Jeremiah in the Bible, or the message of Deuteronomy. We’re great at excuses.

Excuse #2 in Luke 14 begins in verse 7. Jesus says in Luke 14:7-11. I didn’t because I was worried about being embarrassed. I like playing soccer. It is great exercise and it’s fun. But I’m not in great shape right now, and it’s embarrassing to go play soccer with people who are in decent shape. So I think I won’t. What are your thoughts? I think we all use embarrassment as an excuse. Why didn’t you try to teach somebody the Bible? I’d make a fool of myself. Why didn’t you go to that poor person’s house? I don’t want to go to their nasty house. That’s pride. Why didn’t you have more people into your home? Because it was a wreck! I’d be embarrassed. Right, so you’re not doing what you ought to be doing because you’re worried about honor. Depart from Me. Those of us who are worried about our image understand why so many people refuse to come to God’s feast. It’s just not good enough for them. It’s not important enough. So they make excuses to get out of it. Luke 14:16-20. These other people are coming – the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Why are they coming? Because they’re honored to go to the King’s banquet. Are you coming to God’s banquet? “Of course I’m coming. I’m not going to make an excuse.” Prove it. Do something for the Lord that you’ve been making excuses to avoid up to this point. Let’s show Him that we aren’t going to let our pride get in the way of our work for Him.

Another excuse addressed by Jesus in this chapter is our families. Luke 14:25-27. I can’t do what God wants me to do because it will cause a rift in my family. This one hits home for us. Following this book can definitely create problems with family. I spoke to a gentleman back in Alabama about coming to the Lord. He sounded like he believed the teachings of the gospel and knew what he needed to do, but he said he was focused right now on bringing peace to his father, who had died at the hands of some careless doctors. So no obedience for him until the lawsuit was completed and his dad was honored. I think Jesus’ message was for Him. Luke 14:25-27. I’ve had people hear the scripture about salvation – Mark 16:16. And they’ll say, “Wait a second, so you’re saying my mom went to hell because she wasn’t baptized?” No – you concluded that. Our family cannot dictate whether or not we do what we know is right. God will not accept that excuse.

Are we ready to set aside the excuses? Just picture standing there, the spotlight’s on you, and God’s asking you all these questions about your life, about your spiritual decisions and actions, and you’ve got to explain the shortcomings. And so we give a bunch of excuses. And He says, “Didn’t you understand my expectations when you got started?” Luke 14:27-33. The cost is everything. Pride, honor, family. I need to be reminded of this. My life is different out here, working a secular job. But my responsibilities as a Christian haven’t changed. I still have to visit my brothers and sisters in Christ, not because I’m a preacher but because I’m a Christian. And so do you. And I still have to figure out how to bring people to the Lord, not because I’m a preacher but because God won’t accept as an excuse that I was busy. One of my football coaches years ago would always do this when somebody talked about how hard something was. (World’s smallest violin). No excuses.

This is what excuses are going to get us: Luke 14:34-35. So you’re a teenager. Does that mean no evangelism for you guys? What about the command to give as you’ve been prospered? Encouraging your brothers and sisters in Christ. We all have to find our ways into those responsibilities. What does God want from you?

If you need repentance but you’ve got some reason why you won’t seek the help of your church family, recognize the excuse and move past it.

It’s been since March 8, over five months ago, that we’ve last met on Sunday evenings. I’m thankful to be back with you. And that also means that it’s been over five months since we’ve studied the book of Revelation together, which is where we left off in those meetings. We were about to move onto the funnest part of the book, starting in chapter 12, and then had to shut it down. So we are going to pick up there tonight, but first I thought it would be appropriate to remind you what we’ve studied so far. Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter one.

First, In Chapter 1, Jesus reveals that He has been walking among the churches using an image of lampstands. Then He goes through each church in Asia one at a time revealing that He has been watching them.

Then John is whisked away to heaven, where He sees Jesus take a scroll from His Father’s hand, which contains a plan to fight back against the persecutors of God’s people.

It looked something like this. From Chapter six on, we’ve read about Jesus opening the scroll one seal at a time, Which is revealing a plan that God has set in motion to judge those who dare persecute the people of God.

When the first 5 seals on the scroll are opened, we see God’s people getting hurt due to their obedience to the gospel message. The 1st seal is opened, and the rider on the white horse comes forth conquering hearts. This is Jesus and His gospel message. He’s followed by three other horsemen, black, red and pale, that each bring suffering and death to the people who dare accept the gospel message. The fifth seal is opened, revealing that the people of God have had enough and they cry out to God to do something.

And so when the 6th seal of the scroll is opened, God responds, and He is angry and He is coming.

Before He does, He instructs His angels to go find all of His people and protect them from what’s to come.

And once everyone’s safe, the 7the seal is opened, and 7 angels appear each with a trumpet of doom.

The angels blow their trumpets one at a time, hurting God’s enemies in different ways – on land, sea, their water, their sky, their souls, and their bodies through war. And we noted that God is hurting His enemies, not destroying them. As a matter of fact we see at the end of chapter 9 that He’s hoping they’d repent. But after 6 trumpet blasts of doom, they don’t repent. And so now the Lord will have to escalate His judgement against them, and this time He will not be merciful. Mankind is about to be in serious trouble.

But before God sends the nuclear bombs (figuratively speaking), He first says to mankind, “I told you this was gonna happen!”

That’s why chapter 10 begins with a picture of a rainbow. 10:1. What does a rainbow mean? Well, it represents God’s covenant with man. And then the rest of chapter 10 is a reminder that the prophets warned about this punishment. 10:2-7. Do you remember those prophesies God made through the prophets? They’re about to come true. One of Daniel’s prophesies was about a beast with 10 horns who oppresses the people of God. It’s the same as the beast that we’re about to see in the book of Revelation. And Daniel promises that some day God will bring down that beast. Daniel says: Daniel 7:26-28. Revelation 10 is God telling His people, “The time has come. I promised that I would avenge you, and now I’m going to do it.”

Another thing God does before blasting that seventh trumpet is to measure the temple of God, 11:1-2. And I believe this means the same thing as the numbering of the 144,000 earlier in chapter 7 before opening the 7th seal. God is taking inventory. The Temple is the people of God, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthian 3:16. In other words, before blasting his enemies, He’s going to protect us. This time there still will be some pain for us. Revelation 11:2. A period of suffering. But nothing like what’s about to happen to His enemies.

And then there’s one other thing that’s got to happen before God blows His enemies out of the water. What does God always do before destroying people? He preaches to them. He sends His prophets. Revelation 11:3. And they won’t want to hear it, but they won’t be able to stop the prophets until God is done with them. When God has made a final effort to reach His enemies, and they reject Him one last time, then it’s time to finally blow that last trumpet and bring and end to their power. And now here it comes, Revelation 11:15-19. You’d better watch out.

So this is how the book of Revelation is organized.

Alright, now one thing that hasn’t really been discussed up to this point in the book of Revelation is, “Who exactly is hurting the people of God?” We know someone’s doing it. We’ve already read about their persecution in some of the churches in chapters 2-3, and the martyrs in chapter 6, but it’s not really clear who’s behind it. And that’s what we’re about to find out in chapters 12 and 13. So who’s behind the persecution? And the first enemy is easy to identify. Revelation 12:1-10. OK, so who is this? It’s Satan, of course. He’s been trying to destroy the people of God since the beginning. When Christ came along, he tried to devour Him but failed. Now I’ve been skipping some of the details in these stories, trying to just focus on the message of the book, but some time go back and think about all of these images here: The sun, moon and stars clothing the woman; all of the numbers; 7 heads, 10 horns, 1/3 of the stars, and 3 ½ is everywhere in this book (1260 days is 3 ½ years. It’s half of 7, right? Clearly it’s connected to 7, the perfect number in the Bible). But what you need to see right now is that the devil is behind all of this persecution, and he’s about to get his. Revelation 12:10-17.

Now the devil keeps losing in his battle against God’s people, so he calls for backup. So he goes to the sea, and he calls up a creature that we’ve seen before, back in the book of Daniel, when Daniel was prophesying about the future kingdoms after Babylon, which were the Medo -Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. And this beast is how he described Rome! Daniel 7:1-11 vs Revelation 13:1-10 It’s so clear this is Rome that pretty much nobody misses the fact (although some who believe Revelation is about future events teach that it represents some future nation that will be like Rome). It’s the Roman empire who is hurting God’s people, under the control of the devil himself. And again, there are a lot of details here that mean things, which we’ll see later in chapter 17 – those heads and crowns mean something, the 42 months mean something, but here’s the important thing: God is revealing to us the enemy of His people, And the Roman nation is in trouble.

But Satan’s not done. He calls out one more beast to join his fight against the people of God, And this beast is a deceiver and a trickster. This beast is all about getting people to worship the first beast, and if you don’t then your life is going to be miserable. Revelation 11:11-12, 16-17. And this is the beast whose number is 666. And I can’t think of any other verse in the book of Revelation that has more crazy ideas attached to it than this one. But let me just suggest this. If 7 is the perfect number, God’s number, then 666 is the opposite of that. It’s the number that falls short. It’s the fallen number. McGuiggan calls it the number of man. Remember that God sealed His people in chapter 7. Well this creature is trying to do the same things God is with deception and evil intent. He’s trying to lead people astray and putting his mark on them. So this is where we stand in chapters 12 and 13. The devil is revealed to be behind the attacks on God’s people. He’s using the nation of Rome to hurt them, and Rome is using deception, this other creature, to turn people’s hearts from God and punish the people of God when they don’t comply. That’s the message of these two chapters.

And we’ll stop there for today, and pick up with the celebration of the people of God in the next chapters that He is finally going to avenge the suffering of His people. And the bowls of wrath will start to be poured out in chapter 16. But I hope you’re starting to see more clearly the message of the book. It’s not a good idea to set ourselves up as an enemy of the Lord. So where do you stand? There’s no middle ground. Either we’re following Him or we’re not We’re either going to spend eternity with God and His people or with the dragon and his angels. It’s our choice to make today. “Behold now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Good morning.

Jesus says concerning Himself in the last chapter of the book of Revelation: Revelation 22:16.

No doubt you know that the Bible is full of names and titles for Jesus – Emmanuel, Lamb, Messiah, the Rock.

The very first name He’s revealed by in the Bible is Shiloh, over in Genesis 49:10. Genesis 49:10. Shiloh probably means peace. We are blessed to have a Savior who is known first as peace.

The last name or Title ever given to Jesus is in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible. We get to the very end and we’re only at the Bright and Morning Star. We’re blessed to have a Savior who provides us a new start even when it seems like the end.

I’ve started appreciating more the stars since moving out to Colorado, I think because you can see them out here. I went to the Fruita desert Friday night and stared in awe of what you can see from there for a long time. You can actually see the Milky Way from there. One of the stars in the sky has been impressing mankind for thousands of years. You can see it in the early morning if you look towards the direction of the sunrise, before the sun comes up. It’s always been impressive because it’s the brightest star in the morning. Ancient people associated it with love, femininity and fertility. When people first notice it, they’re amazed because it seems like it comes and goes and moves around from day to day. It might be in one part of the sky one night, but then on another night you’ll have to look elsewhere to find it. Some cultures used to call it the Shepherd’s star because it wanders around so much. Now the reason it wanders is because it’s actually not really a star. It’s the planet Venus. So it doesn’t have its own light. It’s actually lit by the sun, which is why it appears as the sun is on its way into view. Hebrews 1:3 calls Jesus the radiance of the glory of God, as though the Father is the Sun and Jesus is His reflected light, just like the Morning Star reflects the light of the sun. But the most important thing about the Morning Star is that it signals that morning is almost here.

There are three times in the Bible when Jesus is called the morning star. The last time is back in Revelation 22:16, after the Lord had finished telling John about what was to come, and most of it was bad: Tribulation and persecution and plagues and war. Martyred saints and evil rulers and abominations, And darkness. But then Jesus finishes by saying, “Survive this night because the Morning Star signals a new day.” Revelation 22:12-16.

It reminds me of a story I heard about why Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. It was during the ware of 1812, and the British had attacked Washington D.C., burned down our Capital building and the home of our President. And then they went after Fort McHenry in Baltimore. And Francis Scott Key was on the British boat in the brig hearing the canons and bombs being launched at the base all day and night. It was 25 hours of bombs and rockets. Throughout the night he watched the rocket’s red glares as they pounded the fort, and he knew that when the sun came up he would see the British flag would be flying over the fort by then. But instead he saw this – a tattered, beaten flag still flying over the base. The Americans had somehow survived the onslaught, and that’s what inspired him to write the song.

Just hold on until the morning. I love you, and I’m coming. I know the battle is fierce, but I’m here to remind you that the morning is near.

That was the last time Jesus was called the morning star. The first time actually goes all the way back to an Old Testament prophecy in the story of the prophet Balaam. It was when Israel was still wandering in the wilderness and they came to the plains of Moab. And Moab’s King, Barak, was afraid of them and fetched the prophet Balaam and offered him a lot of money to curse the people of Israel. And so he tried, because he really wanted the money. But he knew he couldn’t curse them without the Lord’s command. Instead of a curse, God gave Balaam a prophecy about Jesus. Numbers 24:17-19. All these fires going on in Colorado remind me of Smokey Bear, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” A lot of people thought Smokey was a bad idea because he might give kids the idea that bears were nice and huggable, and maybe some dumb kid will try to pet one or something. When we sing about Jesus being the Bright and Morning star, I’m thinking things like nice, friendly, happy Jesus who wants to cheer us up. But in each of these passages about Jesus the star He sounds a little scary.

For example, here in Numbers 24:17, Jesus is the star but He’s also the scepter that will crush through the forehead of Moab. Also, in Revelation 22, Jesus is the Morning Star coming quickly to render to every man according to what he has done, and adding plagues to anyone who dares to add to the words of His book. When we think about Jesus being our bright morning star, two things need to come to mind for us: One is hope, that He’ll usher in the morning for us. And the other is Might, that He’ll be here in the morning to fight for us and conquer and punish the enemy. You can see this sense of might also in the next passage about Jesus the morning star. Turn to Revelation chapter 2.

Beginning in verse 18, Jesus gives a message to the church in Thyatira. There were a lot of problems in that church, a lot of immorality among its members. It almost seems like churches of Christ were a lot worse back then than they are today. But there were some trying their best to remain faithful to God. And Jesus speaks to them beginning in verse 24. Revelation 2:24-29. Keep staying strong and I will give you the morning star. Now this verse doesn’t tell us what this morning star is that Jesus offers to the Thyatirans. But I believe that most understand it to refer to Christ in some way.

And you see once again the power that’s represented in that star, that . . . Revelation 2:26-28.

I’m not a morning person. I don’t get up to look at the morning star, but I might have to one day. But I hope you will. Go outside and look at it. It’s so peaceful and beautiful, and so full of hope and optimism. Because if you can see it, then you know that morning is almost here. You’ve nearly survived the night. And that star represents our God who comes to our aid. He will come, and we’ll get to stand by His side. And our enemies will be forced to bow down to their King. What enemy are you most looking forward to being conquered in the morning? The devil is called our enemy in 1 Peter 5:8. He prowls around tempting us. How much are you looking forward to a day when there will no longer be any temptation? Don’t you get sick of it? Every day, fighting some urge, or our lack of discipline, or some foolish emotion or pride that trips us up over and over again? He knows it’s tough. But look, He’s right there. It’s almost here, just keep fighting for a little while longer. Death is called our enemy in 1 Corinthians 15:26. We have too much sickness and death to contend with right now. That star tells us how close we are to defeating this last enemy. How upset are you by the evil in our world? How much worse is it gonna get? Revelation 2:26-28.

We just need to hold on a little longer. Peter says cling to the Words of God just a little longer in 2 Peter 1:19.

And the day’s on its way. I know that because we can see the Bright and Morning Star already. He was hidden from mankind for thousands of years, but now He’s revealed, and things are getting brighter way out on the horizon, and when it comes it will never be night again. When I was in the desert Friday night, it was pitch black. But I saw a red glow from the fires a few miles into the distance, and it was unsettling. And I saw the glow of the city a few miles in the other direction, which was kinda neat to see. And then the glow from the stars above me. The light is off in the distance but we know it’s near. Are we excited about that? Do you love the darkness or the light? Jesus said, John 3:19-21.

Mark 8:11-12. In this passage, the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign, but I’d like you to notice they weren’t the only ones looking for one. Jesus in His response lets us know that it’s everybody demanding that Jesus do one more great thing. And it was discouraging for Him. What does it mean to you that the Lord of the universe, who cares about us more than anyone else, and who accepted a human life of suffering to save us, became grieved and discouraged by our rejection of Him? I want to ask you this morning to consider the things that you do and I do that trigger this kind of sigh from the Lord.

Luke tells us in chapter 5 verse 16 that Jesus would often withdraw to lonely places to pray. I think we can understand why. Have you ever tried to do good for people while they question everything you do? What if you were the creator of the whole universe, and you went to help your creation whom you love and they doubt that you know what you’re talking about? They don’t want you to be their God? When Jesus signed deeply here in Mark chapter 8, it was towards the end of months spent trying to open the hearts of His people, fellow Galileans. He taught them and gave them sign after sign. And after months of giving them signs, the people let Jesus know that what they want from Him is a sign. That all of the work He’d been doing for them for months was not appreciated. It was not enough. Is what He’s done enough for you?

Laura’s been watching kids for probably 30 years. And along the way she has gotten some kids with insatiable appetites. We had Isaiah 15 years ago who would say, “I’m hungry like a wolf.” And then a few years ago she had Jacelyn who nearly ate us out of house and home. No matter how much food you gave that kid, it would never be enough. The Lord has got to be thinking the same thing about the Galileans during this sigh, as He considers all that He’d already given them and now they’re asking Him, “Give us a sign from heaven.”

He had already given them His first miracle, when He turned the water to wine in Cana. I’ll bet some of them drank that wine. Certainly they’d heard about it.

He healed the Nobleman’s son, which was the second sign He’d given them, according to John 4:54. He gave it to them because, He says in verse 47-50: John 4:47-50. So that was the beginning, and it sounds like He already was discouraged, doesn’t it? Like I don’t know if I even want to try with you people, because you’re not gonna believe me no matter what I do. Why don’t you recognize Me? I’m your God, I made your DNA. I engineered this planet. I made the sun that keeps you warm. I made all of those stars to show you My glory, and give you light. Don’t you recognize My voice? Can’t you hear how well I know you? Don’t you recognize My love for you?

John 4:48.

In Capernaum alone, the Lord had already: Healed the Centurion’s servant, Matthew 8 Paid tax by catching a fish with money in its mouth, Matthew 17:24 Healed Peter’s mother in law, Mark 1:30 Healed the whole city, Mark 1:34 Healed the Paralyzed man let through the roof, Mark 2 Healed Jairus’ daughter, Mark 5:21 Cast out a demon, Luke 4:34 Cast out many more demons, Luke 4:41 Caused Peter’s miraculous catch of fish, Luke 5:4 Walked on water, John 6:16 Shouldn’t that be enough? Has He done enough yet?

And keep in mind that, just before the Pharisees had come to Jesus seeking the sign, He had just finished feeding 4,000 people with 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. Mark 8:8-11.

Is it really a surprise that the Lord would often go find a lonely place to pray? I wonder if Jesus came to us here in Grand Junction to reach us, how often we would discourage Him to the point where He’s got to go find a quiet place in nature to grieve. How many more gifts does He need to provide us before we get behind Him?

Sometimes what the Lord has done is not enough for us. It wasn’t enough for the Pharisees, and it wasn’t enough for the whole generation of people Jesus was trying to reach. And it doesn’t satisfy us. And Jesus’ message is I’m not gonna give it to you. It’s interesting that Jesus says I’m not going to give ANY sign to you. It’s a little puzzling because He’d already given them a lot of signs. And more ARE coming. But what He might be saying is, “My signs aren’t meant for you ingrates.” James, imagine you’ve got your kids coming to visit. And so Ann’s going to cook for them. And there’s a certain meal that they all like but you’ve never liked it. So she cooks it and puts it on a plate in front of you. Did she cook that meal for you? Well no, you can choose to eat it, but she know you wouldn’t like it. Jesus knew they’d reject his signs. They weren’t for them. Jesus once said, Matthew 13:14-15. I think Jesus could have given a sign just for that evil generation to make them believe once and for all. Don’t you? Like some terrifying, awe-inspiring act? I’ve always thought it would be cool if He ripped open heaven and stuck his head out and called down to us to listen. Of what if the Lord transformed into an 80 foot version of Himself looking like Revelation 1 – Glowing metal feet, sword in His mouth, glowing white. But what good would that do? You’re not going to change by seeing that. Maybe you’ll be scared, but if you don’t like the Lord now you wouldn’t like Him after He did some great thing either. He can’t do all the work. You have to come meet Him half way. He wants to give us everything but He needs us to have open eyes and hearts first.

There’s a funny story over in Acts 14 that illustrates this. Paul and Barnabas did some great miracles in Lystra and the result was that the entire town got convinced the two must be gods. Acts 14:12. So wouldn’t you say they were convinced of the miracles? Yeah, no doubt. But Paul got upset. He said, “We’re not gods! We’re doing these miracles to bring you to the true God, and introduce you to His Son, Jesus! So the town said nevermind, then, and stoned him. Did they believe in the miracles? Yes. They thought they must be gods! But was it enough to convince them to follow Jesus? Why not? Because for some people it’s never enough.

We need to see the Lord’s grief every time He reaches out to us and it’s not enough. I hope you can’t get out of your minds this morning the image of Christ sighing deeply and going out to a lonely place to grieve over you. I hope that you see His anger because you didn’t like that He healed a man on the Sabbath day. And I hope that you can see Him weeping over Mary and Martha crying when they lost their brother Lazarus. I hope you see the tears that He wept over Jerusalem for her hardened hearts. And maybe the image of His discouragement over you will motivate you to love Him in return and accept that life that He offers. It’s all right here in His book full of ancient wisdom from the mind of the God who made the heavens and the earth. What are you waiting for?

Romans 9:22-23. What if God. In this passage, we are being asked to push the limits of our imagination regarding the immense patience of God. And we’re being challenged to consider a plan that came from the mind of God and cannot be defeated. I’d like to ask you this morning to be challenged by this phrase, “What if God?” Open up your minds to imagine the possibilities that exist for a God who created the Heavens and the earth. The implication of this phrase is that we tend sometimes to limit Him. Do you ever do that? Maybe He doesn’t know what He’s doing in my particular situation. Maybe He doesn’t pay attention to me. Maybe He can’t forgive me or love me, given what I’ve done. Maybe He’s not as powerful as everyone thinks. But what if God were actually more powerful than we imagine Him to be? What if He cared more than we think, loved us more deeply than we imagined, or is an even better Father than we’ve given Him credit? I started thinking about the words of this verse after talking to somebody about God’s efforts to save people. It’s hard to have people you love not love God like you do, and thinking about them being lost. And you want to do everything you can to save them. But what if God’s doing more for them than we are? Or we can possibly imagine? What if He loves them more than we do? What if God is more than we think?

And I thought about that phrase again while viewing God’s nature. We’re staying at a campsite this weekend, just outside of Paliside right next to the freeway. It’s breathtaking seeing this when you go outside. And then that got me thinking about how amazing nature is, from the way the trees plant themselves in the dirt and use sunlight to grow, And I imagined that it was all so easy for God to do that He probably doesn’t even care very much about it. It’s like breathing or seeing for us. Who cares? He doesn’t even have to try. It’s boring. But what if God does love His Creation? What if He’s proud of it? Sometimes I try to imagine the process He went through to invent the universe, beginning with matter and how did He think of elements and cells and DNA and planets and gravity and reproduction, and then the concepts of beauty and fragrance and power, What if God is even more than we thought . . . We need to be open to that possibility, especially when we start questioning Him and wondering if He’s maybe less than we think.

Let’s try to understand why this question came up back in Romans 9. I’d like you to notice why the Jews, God’s people, starting thinking that maybe God was less than they thought. We studied this chapter recently, and so you might remember that it begins with a question that was on the mind of the Jews: Why didn’t God keep His promises to Israel? He said they would be His people forever, and that He would always love them and deliver them. “You said:” …that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. (Deuteronomy 30:3-5) And you said that if they did disobey, And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. (Deut. 30:6-7) So why didn’t you do that? They were so upset. They thought, “ God’s being unfair!” Romans 9:14. He just does what He wants, says what He wants, He doesn’t care! Romans 9:19. They were so upset that they couldn’t imagine God being anything more than a powerful, uncaring force.

One thing that Paul addresses in this chapter is the way God wrote the Bible. He tries to get the Jews to see that they aren’t looking closely enough at scriptures. Yes, at the surface, Paul says, it sounds like God made all of these eternally certain promises to the Jewish nation, but if you’ll really study and think a little deeper you’ll see that’s not what God was talking about, and we’ll see that in just a minute. But it begs the question, why doesn’t God just clearly and plainly say what He means all the time? Instead of making us dig and think and work to get His point. Or people get the wrong impression of some scripture that sounds really good: Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. Whoever believes in Him will not perish. And people like me will say, “Yeah, it says that, but what’s the context? You have to look deeper, study harder, know the rest of scripture and you’ll get it! Well, why didn’t God just say what He meant then? It seems the Jews were wondering this – Why’d you say it that way, then, if that’s not what you meant? Because you knew we’d take it that way?

But what if God purposefully created the Bible in layers of wisdom and truth to help us? What if God is actually kinder than we give Him credit for in the way the gave us the Bible? I grew up around the beach. And we had pretty big waves on the West Coast. So it was fun to go play in the water. But there were always signs warning about the rip tide. The water looks like it’s going towards the shore on the surface, but just underneath it’s actually flowing out to sea. And if you’re not careful it’ll pull you out too. There’s a lot of exciting stuff going on beneath the surface. And God chooses to write the Bible this way. Those Jews got caught up in those promises at the surface and dug no deeper. “Aha, we’re special and nobody else is! We’ll always be great, I don’t need to see anymore. Some people have had enough of the Bible after a surface-level reading because everything looks good at the surface and they’re not curious. Other people don’t study their Bibles because on the surface it seems really boring, or they don’t like it after a cursory study, or they don’t really seem to get much out of it on their first shallow attempt. But it’s interesting that people who really dig into it and open their hearts to it find it so comforting. They find answers to all of their problems, and they love God more than they ever thought they would. What if God wrote the Bible in layers to maximize its help for us, not make it as hard as possible? What if He made it extra work because He understands us and what helps us the most? Here in Romans 9, Paul challenges the Jews that if they had looked a little deeper into God’s Word, they would have seen that God really loves the faithful people, not simply the ones who share DNA with Abraham. Romans 9:8 If they would have studied a little deeper, they would have understood how wicked Israel was, and thought about God’s choice to show mercy on them anyway? Romans 9:14-15. What if God knows us better than we think?

And what if God is doing more than we can even imagine to help the people who aren’t appreciating Him and His Word? These Jews in Romans 9 are upset because they feel like God has deceived them. He doesn’t love Israel enough to save them, and He’s given up on them and isn’t keeping His promises. So they’re pretty hopeless. But what if God has a plan for the people we love? That’s His message to the Jews in 11:25ff. Romans 11:25-36. It’s so easy for the human mind to think the worst and get discouraged. We have to work to imagine a better possibility. When I was a teenager, I was pretty independent, kind of did my own thing, and also I was forgetful, so I didn’t always keep my mom informed of where I was or what I was doing. Plus we didn’t have cell phones back then to keep our parents informed. But my mom had a vivid imagination. When she didn’t know what I was doing, she imagined things. And it was never good things. I was probably hurt or dead, She was really worried about Laura, that she was a bad influence and we were going to run off together to do hooligan stuff. Why’d she do that? How come it was never, “I had no idea where you were, so I imagined that you were doing extra homework at the library, Or that you were down volunteering at the homeless shelter? God has mysteries, we have imaginations. But unfortunately we have very limited imaginations, and what we can imagine is often very limited or very negative.

But we have such a good God, and such a powerful God . . . Who can: Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us--Ephesians 3:20 Whose ways are unsearchable, Romans 11:33ff. Whose forgiveness is as far as the east is to the west. Nothing is too hard for Him (Jeremiah 32:17). Now what if God could take you and show you a way out of all your bad habits and evil thoughts and feelings? And He could fill you with discipline and peace and love for everyone? What if God could help you reach your ultimate potential and glorify you to Himself? What if God? 24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 24-25 If you’re done limiting God this morning and are ready to believe that He could be greater and better and kinder than you imagine, then give your life to Him this morning.

Matthew 25:14-30.

I think most of us prefer the Bible passages that comfort us and reassure us, like Matthew 11 which recognizes that life is challenging. And it promises us rest. Matthew 11:28. If you’re like me, you find plenty of reasons to get discouraged about yourself, and you cherish God’s comfort.

But there are also plenty of times when Jesus’ message is harsh as well. Like in Matthew 23, you bunch of hypocrites! Or Mark 9, as we read last week, warning us of a place where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out. And here in Matthew 25 Jesus envisions a day when the worthless slaves will be thrown into outer darkness. I don’t like to imagine God calling me or anyone worthless on the day of judgement. I like thinking about God in His kindness and compassion. But I suspect a lot of people are going to be told, “Get out of my sight. You were lazy. You’re not fit for my Kingdom.” And I think it’s important for us to ask ourselves right now, how are we doing? Have we been busy doing what we’re supposed to do? Or are we the one talent person who is wicked and lazy?

Let’s go over some of the work that determines whether or not we did well or we were lazy. We’re to do good works for an evil world. Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them We’re to do the right things. James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. I suspect you’re like me and see the things that you’re not doing. You know the prayer life isn’t where it needs to be, or the Bible study has been interrupted, or you haven’t made one call to a weak or sick brother in months. Are we the good and faithful servant or wicked lazy slave? We’re supposed to be righteous. Romans 2:6-10 He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. Our work is to defeat our sin. And I’ve always loved this verse for defining our ambition as the people of God. We help the powerless. James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world And we strengthen our brother. Hebrews 10:24-25

We pray for everybody. 1 Timothy 2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. I need to do a better job here. We sacrifice. Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship And we grow in every aspect of our faith. 2 Peter 1:5-8 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ We teach with integrity. Titus 2:7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity So while the Lord is away, this is what He expects us to do to prove our work ethic.

So why won’t we do it? It’s frustrating and discouraging when I know I’m supposed to do something and I put it off. There have been many times when I’ve asked the kids to do a chore that should take them five minutes but I give them 20 to get it done. And guess when they start it, if they even did it? 18 minutes in. But why do they do that? They know There’s going to be consequences. Now you have to clean the whole kitchen. Now you can’t play Xbox. Give me your phone. Why don’t we just do what we’re supposed to do? In Jesus’ parable, He provides some answers. And one answer is the way the responsible servants perceived their Master versus how the wicked viewed him. The faithful said, “Master, you have entrusted your resources to me.” Matthew 25:20. Master, You trusted me. So I couldn’t let you down. It was important that you were proud of me. The prayers that I could pray to help other people. The truths you entrusted to me that came from beyond this universe. These people that you put in my life. Your righteousness. You have entrusted these things to me. So I have gained for You. “See, I have gained five more.” Faithful people find time to do what they’re supposed to do because they feel like they’re doing it for God. Father, I found time for prayer, I found time to consider my flaws and find ways to work on them, and I found time for hospitality and mercy and love, even when there was no time, because I wanted to do that for you. But lazy people think differently. They think like this: Matthew 25:24-25. God is harsh, they think. You need to watch yourself around God, because He’ll get you. God will take everything from you if you don’t watch it. He’s hard to deal with. Jesus says for them that’s going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we’re gonna be wicked and lazy, God will be just as we anticipated. If we can’t find it within ourselves to live as children who want to bring joy to their Father, then we’re gonna have a hard time producing.

When we’re lazy, we’ll find a way to justify our lack of effort. The lazy man says, “There’s a lion in the road!” Proverbs 26:13. There’s a pandemic out there! The streets aren’t safe! Just as in the parable, we’re lazy because we’re trying to escape perceived suffering and danger. I asked Jeffrey the other day how well he knows me. What would I do if I could do anything in the world without any cares or concerns? The answer was nothing. That is my favorite thing to do. I like to rest. Laziness is appealing because it’s rest. But it has consequences. Proverbs 19:15 says that “Laziness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle man will suffer hunger.” We need to remember what the consequences will be for not finding the time or the will to do those things we know we’re supposed to be doing.

Another reason we can be lazy is because we don’t think we have to do the work. Do you feel like you have to go out and convert people for God? Like if we don’t we’re not going to make it to heaven? I doubt it. Otherwise we’d all be scrambling to do that work. Do we really feel like we need to quit our immoral habits? Do you need to find time for prayer and study? It’s not being lazy that I can’t do those things. I just don’t have time. We can’t do that right now. That’s not my gift. There’s always a reason why we didn’t do it, but there’s still going to be consequences. Proverbs 24:30.

We have to find a way to get these things done, because there’s no excuse we can make that is gonna work. In Jesus’ parable, the scripture says Matthew 25:24-28, and in Luke 19:20-26 . . . What are you gonna try to say if the master doesn’t believe your work was up to par? We have to find a way to do what we know we’re supposed to do. I know it’s not easy. But it’s a key lesson in this parable – no excuses. Just get it done, find a way, get some help, pray, whatever we have to do, find a way because the consequences are out of the question.

James often reminds me that this valley is an interesting place because people come here to escape something else, to be left alone so that they don’t have to live up to other people’s expectations. But God’s still here. I imagine there are a lot of people here with great work ethic. Who are going to be told by God one day, “You wicked, lazy servant” because they didn’t get the work done. They got their stuff done. It’s amazing how much work kids can put into building entire cities in computer games, spending hours a day, but can’t clean their rooms. We can get our stuff done, but we can’t done the work we are charged to do.

Is your Father worth the task? Who has cared for you behind the scenes your entire life? Who has sacrificed for you and loved you? The good and faithful servants got the job done because they thought He was. The only way we’re going to be spiritually productive is if we’re sure He’s worth it. I want Him to say well done to me one day. He’s been too good to me to deserve anything but my best work. If you feel the same, make a commitment to push other things aside and get the job done for Him.

Mark 9:50 says . . . I don’t remember a whole lot about my biological dad from my growing up years since my parents divorced when I was young, but I do remember getting in trouble. He made those times memorable. My dad was never one for talking much. But he had ways of getting his point across. He was a truck driver, and he would get home at weird hours and have to leave when everyone else was going to sleep, so we had to be really quiet. I remember one time, my brother and I were young enough to be taking a bath together, I was probably about 4 or 5, and we were being too noisy. We might have been fighting, we did that a lot. And my dad walked into the bathroom, obviously having just gotten woken up, didn’t say a word, and he punched the linen cabinet hard enough to put a hole in it. We got the message. I don’t think the Lord is above sending a similar message to us either if we’re forgetting how to be a Christian, and I believe that’s the message of this verse at the end of Mark 9. Twice here, before Jesus tells His disciples to have salt in themselves, they were acting like they forget how to be Christians. So Jesus sends them a punch-a-hole-in-the-wall type message.

Read with me beginning in verse 33. Mark 9:33-50.

Don’t the disciples sound a little childish in this passage, like kids fighting in the bathtub? First, they’re having an argument about who was going to be the greatest. I used to compete with my brother about everything. I was 20 months older than him, and so I would usually win and rub it in his face. And he was always following me around trying to do what I did, which was so annoying. I regret so much about how I treated my brother. But I was 10 years old, and the disciples were grown men. They should have known better.

And then next the disciples saw another man doing the Lord’s work who wasn’t one of them, and they don’t like it. So they tell on him and try to stop him. “Hey, did Jesus say you could do that? I’m telling!” This time Jesus gets more severe: Mark 9:39-42. Do you guys want to go to hell? Keep it up. I think you’re forgetting about what’s at stake here.

And now take a look at what He says at the end, and see what you make of what salt means in this section. 9:47-50. So in hell, the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good. Don’t let it become unsalty. Have salt in yourselves, And be at peace with one another. So what’s the salt? Well, it’s the fire of hell. It’s a fearful fire that is never quenched. And it’s going to salt everyone of us, one way or another. We can either have it in us now, or be salted with it later. Our choice. I think Jesus is sending the same message my dad sent to my brother and I 30-some years ago – you’d better get along or you’ll be sorry. I think the message is get that fear of hell inside you so that you’ll quit being so immature in your faith. Do you remember when you got baptized? Why’d you do that? Probably most of the people that tell me about the day they were baptized say that they were motivated out of fear. We don’t want to go to hell. I love God. I love what He stands for, and I think He’s the most caring person in the universe. That’s an important reason to seek salvation, because we love Him and want to make Him happy. But I know I deserve to go to hell. I knew that from the time I was a young teenager. So I became a Christian in large part because of that fear. That’s OK. That fear helps keep us on the right track. Here Jesus uses fear of hell to warn us to get along. He says, “Do you remember hell? The place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched? Do you want to go there? Salt yourself up with those images, and get them down in there nice and deep.” And you remember it next time you want to want to rip on your brother: For how he prayed. Remember it after you’ve gone a year without sitting down at a meal with your sister. Next time you avoid him for the 10th time because of something that happened in the past. After you haven’t seen someone for four months and you didn’t take action. Next time you just want to stay aloof from your spiritual family. We need to get that salt down in there. And it’s a really serious thing if we lose that saltiness. It’s such an important catalyst for so many things. People who use drugs for a long time have told me that it changes their emotions. They can’t get happy like other people. Or get excited like they used to. It’s like a handicap. Lose that fear of hell, and you’re emotionally handicapped

Fear is a great motivator for peace, just like my dad taught me. It’s great for marriages, because a lot of times we don’t want to pursue peace with our wives or husbands. Because they’re jerks. They don’t deserve it. I’m gonna wait until she deserves it and then I’ll pursue peace. Except the problem is that the Bible says husbands love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Well how am I going to change how I feel? Have you heard about a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched? Women, love your husbands. I don’t think a bitter marriage is going to look very good at judgement day. Salt is great for pursuing our struggling brethren, and we have a bunch of them. They could really use your help going after them, warning them and encouraging them and loving them. Why should I do that? Because he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins. Don’t let them go to the worm and the fire without at least having said something about it to them. And salt is great for getting us working together, since God tells us Ephesians 4:2-3. And He says Philippians 1:27.

My brother and I knew, I think, that we weren’t supposed to be fighting. I knew I shouldn’t have worked so hard to 1-up him all of the time. He’s talented. He’s always been able to do a bunch of things I’ll never be able to do. He used to take stuff apart all the time and get in trouble for it. “Why is the toaster in 13 pieces? Nathan!” What happened to the radio! But he figured out how stuff worked, and he does work with cranes today that I’ll never understand. But when you’re young and immature, you need the fire. As soon as we’re all grown up and mature, then we can cast out the fear. But until then, let’s embrace it. Our God deserves it. I’m so thankful for His parenting. He makes it so that I can stand with Him.

Good morning. When Paul was near the end of his life, he described himself this way:

2 Timothy 4:6-7. What comes to mind when you read that Paul is already being poured out as a drink offering? Probably that he’s facing death. Which is true, and obviously a part of this. We know he’s imprisoned while writing this, 2 Timothy 1:16, 2 Timothy 2:9. And he tells us this is it for him. I’m about to be killed and it’s OK. I’m ready. But the fact that he describes his death as a drink offering specifically, and not a burnt offering or any other kind of offering tells us he wants us to see something more. There’s different kinds of sacrifices that the Jews offered, you might recall, and twice when Paul contemplated his own death he thought of it as a drink offering. The first time was in Philippians 2:17-18. He imagines his death as a drink offering being poured over the key offering, the animal sacrifice probably, which represents the good that all of the people will do after Paul dies. “I pour myself out on your sacrifice, as it continues on when I leave.”

I want to show this morning why we ought to think about our lives and deaths as pouring out a drink offering too, and how that might be a great honor and glory for our Lord. There were many kinds of offerings in the Jewish Law that Paul could have referred to instead. What other offerings might he have chosen? A burnt offering, or a peace offering, or maybe as a Lamb or animal or even as the grain offering. But he a very special kind of offering instead. Drink offerings had a special place in the Levitical system. They weren’t really an offering that stood on their own. You would offer them with the other offerings that you brought before God. They were to be completely poured out to the Lord, unlike the other sacrifices. You would often burn part of an animal, and then the priests got some of the meat or you might eat some before the Lord. Also, drink offerings were the symbol of joy during the sacrifice. As you think about sin and atonement and this animal being killed because of you, during a very bloody and messy and serious moment of worship before the Lord, the drink offering represented joy.

When they’re first introduced in scripture, they represented joy. Drink offerings go way back in the Bible to the days before the Old Law, all the way back to Genesis when you see the patriarch Jacob pour one out before the Lord at Bethel. When everything was finally right in his life, his faith was strong, he was away from his devious father-in-law Laban, and God had blessed him greatly, and he had returned to a place where God had met him a long time ago when things weren’t going so well for him. God appeared to Jacob and blessed him again . . . Genesis 35:11-14.

And then you don’t read about them again until the Law was given, and it may not have been (as scholars like J.H. Kurtz believe) until they entered Canaan before Israel started offering them to the Lord. Because in Numbers 15, verse 2, God commands them to be offered when they enter into the land. Which I’m thinking may be because the drink offering was to be a joyful thing, as we’ll talk about. And they weren’t an offering that was done alone under the Law, like Jacob did. They always were part of other offerings: The daily burnt offerings to God, the firstfruits offering, Pentecost, by Nazarites when they were finally done with that vow, Numbers 6:14-16. There were several things Israelites would use to supplement the burnt offerings, as you see here. And that was the role of a drink offering. It was a side part.

When Paul called himself a drink offering in the book of Philippians, he wasn’t a lone offering. He poured himself over the sacrifice of his brothers at Philippi. It’s good to remember that whatever sacrifices we’re offering to God in our lives, we’re not alone. There are people all over the world contributing great sacrifice and tribulation, and we are just pouring our part on top of all that. It’s an honor to come along behind them and pour ourselves out upon this great offering that’s being compiled by God’s people. Drink offerings were not something that was done alone.

Another thing about drink offerings is that they couldn’t be watered down offerings. They had to be pure wine. Now I think we all understand that Jews, like us, were not to get drunk. So the godly ones would avoid that by adding water to their wine. Then it became a table drink. They’d serve it to their kids, Lamentations 2:12. But God doesn’t want any watered-down sacrifices. You bring it to him in its strongest form and offer it to him.

And then one other unique fact about the drink offering is that it was poured out completely before the Lord. Priests would get a portion of the heave offerings and meal offerings and sin offerings, but the drink offering was completely poured out. The Levitical Priests couldn’t drink wine anyway in their service to the Lord, as we learned from Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:9. The entire thing was the Lord’s share. So what’s a drink offering all about? It’s an ancient offering. You don’t water them down. They aren’t a lone offering – they always come with other sacrifices. And they are 100% given to the Lord, completely poured out.

And they are a representation of joy. Wine was always a symbol of joy for Israel. It was the thing that completed the sacrifice. Including wine with the sacrifice kind of made a complete meal, where you would have the meat from the animal, and then typically the grain offering or unleavened bread, and then finally the wine. It was almost like you’re coming to God and having a meal with Him. And the wine was the symbol of joy. It always was to the Israelites. It was a sign of God’s blessing when Canaan had such huge grapes. Psalm 104:15 blesses the Lord because He gave wine to gladden the heart of man. Jotham said in Judges 9:13 that wine cheered God and men. It was a symbol of joy and blessing and feasting and gladness.

But who received the joy of the offering? Numbers 28:1-2, Numbers 29:2, 6. It’s our efforts to bring joy to our God through our sacrifice.

So why do you think Paul chose to describe his ultimate sacrifice as a drink offering and not another kind?

Perhaps he wanted to allude to the totality of his sacrifice. It pleased Paul to give everything of himself to the Lord. “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice,” he told the Philippians. I doubt he had much more to give at this point, after the beatings, and imprisonments, and lashes, and three stonings, shipwrecks, hunger and thirst and exposure. His constant worry for all the churches. It’s not like he just started pouring in 2 Timothy. At this point, he’s hitting the bottom of the container to get the last drops out. “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order than I may gain Christ.” Wouldn’t you like to get to the end of your life and be able to say that your life was a drink offering, emptied out for the sake of the Lord, poured upon the sacrifice and service of the people of God for the sake of the God who has done everything for us? Paul wants to express the totality of his sacrifice.

And he wants to express the labor that was represented by the wine. Think about what’s being poured out in the drink offering. Back in Old Testament days, you grew those grapes. And when they were ready, you harvested them. It took close to 20 pounds of grapes to make a gallon of wine, and depending on the sacrifice that might be what you’d bring, anywhere from a third to a gallon and a half per sacrifice. So you do all that work and make the wine, and you come to your sacrifice and you just pour it all out before the Lord. God, this is for you. This is my labor that I am bringing to you, pouring out before you. Paul was so gifted, he could have used that ability to make himself a lot of money. To gain whatever he wanted for himself. What a waste of a life to just pour it out before the Lord and die empty. It makes you want to do more, doesn’t it? I worry about getting to my expiration date and there’s still a half a container of stuff that never got used. There’s so much work to do around here, with this church, in this community, I’ve got to find a way to get more done. We all do if the gospel’s going to thrive here.

I came across a verse in Psalm 118:27 that was convicting to me, and expresses the commitment that we owe to God in our sacrifices. Psalm 118:27. And I thought, “We’re the living sacrifices.” To what lengths will we go to commit our offering to him? Will we tie ourselves up to the alter to make sure we stay there? “Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee.” Will we do whatever it takes to give God everything?

Paul did, and he did so in joy. He picked the joyful offering to describe himself.

Philippians 2:17.

And, he continues in 2 Timothy 4:7-8. I remember a movie years ago about a guy who inherited $300 million dollars, but first he has to pass a test. He’s got to spend every dime of $30 million dollars in 30 days to inherit it. Our challenge is to spend ourselves, but if we do, we receive the Lord as our award on the day of His appearing. And it’s going to be unimaginable joy.

In the Old Testament system, all of the wine was poured out to the Lord. It was His joy. But in the New Testament it’s a little different. We do get to partake of the wine with Jesus in His Kingdom every week. It’s a symbol of the joy that we have even now as children of His Kingdom. But there’s still a great cost. We are to be poured out. And then when we’re empty, we’ll get to experience the fulness of the Lord forever. Would that be worth it to you? Do you count everything as loss because of the worth of knowing Jesus? Are you willing to suffer the loss of all things to gain Christ? Are you willing to attain the resurrection of the dead by any means possible? Then . . . Acts 22:16.

2020 is shaping up to be a memorable and revealing year for our country, and I hate to break it to you but we’re not even halfway done with it yet. God only knows what the next thing will be. One revelation is the amount of rage that can we can generate. And it’s not a rage that is of God. Proverbs 19:3.

I’d like to talk this morning about how we can avoid the rage of man’s folly and focus on the wisdom of God. We as the people of God need to model the wisdom of God to the people around us through our level-headedness, our reasonable responses and the way we manage ourselves during all of these crises. And so with that in mind I invite you to study with me what exactly wisdom is from the story of King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived.

Beginning at the moment that God granted Solomon his great wisdom, in 1 Kings 3:5-12. And as we read this passage, think about what Solomon wanted that wisdom for. 1 Kings 3:5-12. Why did he want that wisdom? Because he was scared at the thought of being a King. As the people of God, when we think of wisdom, we tend to focus on morals. Wise people figure out how not to sin. But clearly wisdom does more than that in this story. Solomon wanted wisdom so that he could do a good in his job as king. He wanted to make the right decisions, know what to say to people, to help Israel be a successful nation.

He wanted to be a king that had good judgment in that role. 1 Kings 3:9, 12. God is challenging us right now to be able to see through all of the noise and understand what’s going on and make good decisions about current events. What’s everybody upset about? Why are people raging? And how can we talk reasonably with people on all sides of this issue? I believe that’s the wisdom Solomon asked for, in the context of running a kingdom.

So God gave Solomon that wise and discerning heart. Read with me beginning in 4:29-33. Someone with Solomon’s wisdom could bring peace to our country tomorrow because they would know the best course of action for all of us. They understand how to craft solutions and fight battles skillfully, like the wisdom of the craftsman of Exodus 28 or the military wisdom of Joshua. They can figure things out. And they’re not narrow minded. I believe this is where our emotions get us into trouble as the world rages around us. We’re not able to see the whole picture. Wise people have a breadth of mind that allows them to see things from the front, back side, top and bottom.

Wisdom makes us great problem-solvers. Do you remember the first time the Bible talks about Solomon using his wisdom? When he had to decide what to do about a dead baby? 1 Kings 3:16-28. Why is this so great from Solomon? Because it was creative and effective. It pressed the right buttons in these women’s heart and gave him the information he needed. If we’re going to be wise, we need to start figuring out what works and what doesn’t. What can we say and do to get people to study the Bible with us? How can we make sure that people see us as godly people? Kind, compassionate, virtuous? Sometimes people don’t see us that way for various reasons, but we can’t put that on them. It’s on us to make people see us the right way.

Let’s look at a few more aspects of Solomon’s wisdom. In chapter 4, Solomon’s wisdom is defined by organization and planning, which has always been tough for me. We won’t read all of these names, but I do want to point out that . . . He chose Zadok the Priest as his prime minister, one trusted by God and served with his father David. And Shisha and Jehoshaphat, who also had experience with David. He chose men with wisdom and experience, not his friends who shared his outrage like Solomon’s son Rehoboam picked when making his cabinet. Solomon chose Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men who already proved his trustworthiness. He maintained the priests, he chose the son of Nathan the prophet, all people who had already proven themselves, who already were connected with solid, righteous people. Wise people surround themselves with wisdom. Let’s pray God sends us more wisdom to help build up the church in Mesa County.

Another aspect of Solomon’s wisdom is that it was so thorough and organized. There’s no shortcuts in his wisdom. It’s hard work and thoughtful down to every detail. If we’re going to be wise, we can’t just be good. We have to be organized and thorough and tedious.

Let’s look one more place, at Solomon’s wisdom seen in building the Temple of the Lord over in 1 Kings 5. Solomon had three architectural missions as King – to build the Temple, the Palace and the Jerusalem wall. One thing he did that was somewhat surprising was that he went outside of Israel to seek help for those projects. He asked a country that had experience in such projects that he knew could do it better to come in and help. He calls the Sidonians in 1 Kings 5:5-6. And then when he needed help building the furniture and gold decorations for the temple, he sought help from Tyre. 1 Kings 7:13-14. Wise people aren’t afraid to seek help from outsiders who are successful. That might be something we can consider as we seek growth, in finding workers who have built up churches in similar situations as ours and bring them in to advise us.

So let me ask you as we conclude this morning’s lesson – is this how you think of wisdom? Is it being smart about dealing with people, having success, breadth of mind, organization, thoroughness? Qualities that would make any of us successful in business. Or do we tend to focus more on not doing dumb things like smoking or partying or being lazy? There’s so much more to wisdom than that. And in times like we’re in today where the world has gone crazy, we need to have Solomon’s wisdom more than ever shine our lights and glorify God. And the scriptures tell us how we can get it.

James 1 says . . .

Proverbs tells us to find it by paying attention. Listen where others are too distracted to notice. Proverbs 1:20-22.

And of course we need to study. Proverbs 1:7.

And if we can find this wisdom, then we can come out of 2020 as a church with a big head-start on everyone around us and avoid the emotion and rage that’s consuming our world right now. Are you interested in pursuing the wisdom of God? James 4:10.

Revelation 22:1-5. I used to hear a song on the radio quiet a bit a few years ago that imagined what heaven was going to be like that said . . . I can only imagine, Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still? Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing 'Hallelujah! '? Will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine! I can only imagine! What do you think it’s gonna be like? Sometimes it can be dangerous to just guess because there’s a lot of bad ideas out there about heaven. Plus there’s a lot we actually do know about it that we can find in the Bible. For example: It’s the place God wants me to go. And since we trust Him and want to please Him, it’s a place where we’re gonna try to go. We also know it’s better than this place. And that needs to sink in deeply to our hearts. The sooner we start feeling that itch to get our of here, the sooner we’ll start making the changes we need to make in ourselves. I don’t get why Christians are so invested in getting the world to be a better place, in fixing our country or our communities. For what? Do you want to stay here? Is this world our home? The world is broken, let’s accept that. It’s a grievous task to live here, Solomon says, Ecc 1:13. But heaven’s real. And it’s out there right now, empty, and brand new, and waiting for us. God calls it the new heavens and a new earth in 2 Peter. We’re not gonna mess that one up like we did this one. Only the best people will be there. The ones who have a heart for God. There’s not gonna be any temptation or sin there. We’re not gonna sin or be tempted there, isn’t that an awesome thought? There’ll be no more looking up at the sky wondering about God when we get there, or having to live by faith. Because we’ll see Him and talk to Him, and He’s going to tell us things personally. Hes going to have a conversation with you about you. These are things we know about heaven, no imagining necessary. But unfortunately there are many myths floating around about heaven that temper our enthusiasm about going there, so let’s address a few of those this morning.

Myth #1: Heaven’s gonna be boring. It’s gonna be like eternal church. How fun would that be? There’s nothing more fun than listening to a preacher 24 hours a day for eternity. Who wants to sit in church forever? That’s not how heaven’s going to be. Yes, there will be worship there. Some of the Biblical images of heaven are worship images, like for example Revelation 4:8-10. But first of all these verses are very figurative language, as we had been seeing in our Revelation class. But that doesn’t mean all we’ll do is sing and do church. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of other verses describing heaven as more like a party. The Bible also describes God preparing a celebration for His people, like with food and fancy clothes in Revelation 19:7-8. It’s also described as feasting at a table. And a wedding reception, Matthew 25:1ff. In my wedding, all of our bridesmaids and groomsman hid sunglasses in their pockets. And after Laura and I walked down the aisle, they took them out real cool and put them on and strutted after us. They were just trying to make it fun. I think this myth comes from people who have no clue who God is. They think He’s a control freak who just wants us to feed His ego for eternity. They have no clue about the personality of God. That’s why the Bible emphasizes so strongly that we need to get to know our Father, Philippians 3:8. He’s not the lightning strike God, He’s not a split personality God, or a God who wants to control everything we do. Let’s get to know our God and get rid of these silly myths. One other thing about heaven that should help us realize heaven’s not gonna be boring is Hebrews 11:13-16. Whatever heaven’s like, it’s going to be better than anything you can imagine doing. What’s your favorite thing to do? Do you like to party? I mean I know you’re a Christian and so you’re not allowed to have fun. Your parties are garbage compared to heaven. Do you like Christmas with the kids? Hanging out with your friends? That’s cute. Heaven is 1000% better. It’s all garbage compared to heaven, Philippians 3:8, 20, 18-19.

Myth #2: Heaven’s gonna be sad! We might think it’s gonna be sad as we think about the friends and family we’ll leave behind. Someone wrote one time, “I’d rather be with my friends in hell than alone in heaven.” One thing we forget when we think like this is that they’re God’s friends and loved ones, too. He loves them all way more than we’ll ever love them. Again, we need to get to know our God and consider Him some more. 2 Peter 3:9, John 3:16! But if God says heaven is a place of rejoicing and healing, then that’s what it will be. I’ve also heard some folks say that when we get to heaven God’s probably going to make us forget all those people, like give us amnesia or something, so that we won’t remember our loved ones. I’ve never believed that, and there’s no evidence of that. There is evidence that we will know they’re there thought. In Luke 16:26, the Lord says there’s a chasm fixed between the righteous and wicked so that those in the good place who wish they could cannot go over to the other side. We’ll know. God knows. We’re not going to get to heaven and know less, we’re going to know more, Ephesians 4:13. And that’s what’s going to make it bearable. It’s one of my pet peeves that we try to protect people by keeping knowledge from them. That’s not God’s way. We rejoice in truth. We may have some sadness for those who are lost. I imagine God will as well. But we will also praise Him for His justice and rejoice with those who put their trust in Him.

Myth #3; Heaven’s just going to be an eternal vacation! Fun, funfun! What trip would you take if you could do anything you want? Well that’s like heaven! An eternal Disneyland. I don’t believe that’s what scriptures teach. Heaven is our fresh start, it’s our re-do, it’s a place for all of us to go and achieve our potential. That’s a lot different than a long vacation. When we get to heaven, we walk into the gates, and He’ll say Matthew 25:34. We walk in and we see a brand new world, described in Revelation 21 as a new heavens and a new earth. This earth is destroyed and heaven is the renewal, the fresh start, where we get to begin again as though this failure never happened. That’s not vacation, that’s a second chance. Even when Jesus promises rest, Matthew 11:28-30, He describes it as a light yoke verses a heavy one. Do you wish you could have a mulligan in life? Well you can’t here, but your mulligan is heaven. Some day I’ll get to see you in heaven. I’ll run into you and I’ll know you. And you’ll be different. You’ll be happy. You’ll look amazing. You’ll have a place up there somewhere as your own. But you’ll just be getting started. You’ll be NEW. You’ll be a part of a brand new world, and you’ll get to make your mark there in the presence of your Creator. And you’ll never get tired doing it.

Finally, Myth #4 is that we’ll be like mystical spirits with wings up in heaven flying around in the clouds. I’ve heard many people talk about having wings in heaven, and there’s no indication of that, I’m sorry to say. Ironically, not even angels are described with wings in the Bible. There are a couple of things we know about what our bodies will look like in heaven. Someday our physical body is going to die, and we’re not going to have one for a while. 2 Corinthians 5:4. But then, someday we stand before God and He judges us. And if He judges us faithful, 1 Corinthians 15:38. So we die and we lose a body. And I don’t know what we are at that point. But then on the final day He makes a new one for each of us. It’s going to be a Spiritual body, though, 42-44. Whatever it is, it’s going to be awesome. And by the way, anyone who’s unfaithful, and who is sent to hell, there’s no promise of a body for you. I can’t even imagine what kind of existence that will be, but the promise of a new body is for God’s people alone.

I appreciate your attention this morning. And let’s end with one final myth – that heaven is for good people. Do you think to get to heaven you have to be good? Are you a good person? I hope you will consider these words from God this morning: Romans 3:10. Good people don’t go to heaven. People who trust in God go to heaven. I want to see heaven. I’m tired of having to see God by faith. I want Him to be right there. I want it to be done, this world’s destruction and the beginning of the new one. It’s 2020. I won’t see the next century. I will have begun the rest of my life by then, and wherever I am, there’s no chance of going somewhere else. This is your only shot at choosing the direction of the rest of your life, and I’m afraid some aren’t doing a very good job choosing right now. If that’s you, please make the necessary changes this morning to assure that you can be with God for eternity.

Numbers 35:10-15. We’re going to talk this morning about being locked in. Just imagine being stuck in one place, almost imprisoned even though you didn’t do anything wrong. Not being able to go out by decree of the government or you would have severe consequences. People are watching you like a hawk to make sure that you comply with the locked-in order. Does that sound familiar? I think we all feel trapped in our homes right now, like we’re being punished, not able to see our friends or family, and we know it’s supposed to be for our own good but it doesn’t feel fair. The Bible had places like this too, and they were called cities of refuge. They’d keep you safe but only if you stayed put. And they represent the kind of safety that God offers to His people today. To understand the cities of refuge that the Old Testament talks about, we need to imagine living in a country without a legal system – there’s no police to call, the people just looked after each other. It was almost like the wild west in the early days of the nation of Israel. So imagine if you lived back then, and a man kills your loved one, and you know who it is. What are you going to do about it? Well, in order to prevent vigilante justice and everyone taking the law into their own hand, the Lord had His people build the cities of refuge where manslayers could go to be safe from revenge. I imagine that’s an important part of the story of these cities for us. The people seeking refuge from them did something terrible and ran to a place of mercy.

Cities of Refuge were built all over Israel so that they were easily accessible to everyone. They were built to provide refuge to manslayers. How would you feel about declaring Grand Junction a sanctuary city for murderers? “Are you accused of murder? Are you running from the police? Then we invite you to Grand Junction, Colorado where we will care for you and protect you and you can live among us! That’s what these Old Testament cities were. They were the manslayer cities. Deuteronomy 19:1-3. Anytime anyone in Israel killed someone, whether it was accidental or on purpose, they became known as a manslayer. And when the family of the dead discovers what happened, one of their people is appointed the avenger. His job is to bring justice to the family by killing the manslayer. So if you’re the manslayer, that avenger is out to kill you, and you’d better get yourself to a city of refuge before he catches up to you. Now God did everything to help that manslayer get to the city. What does that tell you about your God? We saw in Deuteronomy that the roads were to be prepared for their journey, and their location was nearby. According to historical sources: No hillock or river was allowed to be in the way, over which there was not a bridge: and the way, leading thither, was, at least, two-and-thirty cubits (48 feet) broad. And in every double way, or in the parting of the ways, was written "Refuge, refuge,"--lest he that fled thither might mistake the way. The gates were never to be locked, because these men might be arriving at any hour of the day. Now even if he makes it to the city, he’s safe for now and gets a fair trial. Joshua says: Joshua 20:4-6. If he’s found guilty the avenger gets to put him to death, so these cities ultimately didn’t help actual murderes. But if it’s discovered that the whole thing was an accident, he doesn’t die: But he has to live in that sanctuary city for the rest of his life or until the High Priest dies and he can go home. If he ever steps foot out of that city, the avenger can then rightfully come and kill him because he disobeyed the command of God. Because a tragedy still occurred with his accident, and there are consequences that need to be faced. Many lives were changed forever, and this is God’s way of providing both justice for the family and mercy to the manslayer, keeping peace.

I kinda feel bad for the people who lived and managed these cities. How would you like to be in their shoes? All of these cities were Levite cities, the poor Levites. You might remember that God didn’t give big territories to the Levites like He did the other tribes. He gave them 48 cities. And then God made them use 6 of those for the cities of refuge. No other tribe was required to make their cities available for manslayers, only the Levites. And again, I think about what lesson we should take from this. As Christians we’re a kingdom of priests. We relate most to the tribe of Levi in the Old Testament, and their job was to open up their cities to manslayers even thought it likely made them feel uncomfortable and unsafe, and it was a lot of work. And the cities they ended up having to use were their best cities. In California, Fresno is often called the armpit of the state (sorry). People would rather live by the ocean or the mountains. These cities weren’t the Fresnos of Israel, they were the San Diegos and the Ourays and the places where people wanted to live. Shechem, for example, was used because of its great location. It was a very ancient, beautiful city in a great location for trade, located near mountains and rivers. Hebron, the city of Abraham and his burial place, was another. Ramoth -Gilead was a strong city and a fortress in Israel. So they had to use their best cities to host the manslayers. And what are they going to do with these people while they’re there? Where are they going to live? Who’s going to feed them? All of these responsibilities had to be provided by the people of God. They had to be well-stocked to care for them. I read that the mothers of the High Priests worked hard to make them comfortable because she didn’t want any of them praying for the death of their sons so they could leave the city. And then the Levites had to protect these people. There’s a lot of people outside their gates wanting that manslayer dead. He just killed a son and a father and a mother. And they’re just Levites. They’re not necessarily fighters (you see that in 1 Samuel 22 when the priest are cut down at Nob). Are you ever amazed at how much God asked of His people the Levites? To know the Law completely with all those Old Testament rules and regulations: To know the most efficient way to kill all those animal sacrifices that were brought to them: To be the singers of Israel; And the religious leaders and mediators and they had to identify lesions and boils And be leaders in mercy And, oh yeah, be the bodyguards of the manslayer. Are we willing to accept all of the roles God expects of us? Religious leader, lights to the world, teachers, comforters, and so many others? God has high expectations of His people.

But now let’s look at this from the perspective of the manslayer. He’s been found innocent, because he didn’t do it on purpose. But now he can’t go home. He must remain in the sanctuary. Would you say that’s a blessing or a burden? Think about what he had to give up even though it was a total accident: His home His family His freedom. No traveling, you stay in that little city for the rest of your life (or until the priest dies). His job. It’s hard to lose that usefulness that you had in your life and go somewhere where you’re not needed. Actions have consequences, even when we don’t mean them. I tell this to the kids. Do you know what I make them do when they accidentally spill their drink? You’re not gonna believe it. Even though it wasn’t on purpose, I make them clean it up. This manslayer ended the life of another human being, and there’s consequences. I feel bad for people who accidentally kill another human being in a car accident. I remember a Walmart truck driver did this a few years back and it made national news because he hadn’t slept enough for his route. But he didn’t mean to do it. I’m sure this was tough for these Israelite manslayers. On the one hand they’re in the sanctuary and protected from what’s out there, from the people who want to see them dead. From all of the vengeance and hate that’s our there. But on the other hand it comes with great sacrifice. Do you think God’s trying to tell us something about our experience as Christians? That if we’re going to come to Him for refuge we need to be willing to leave everything behind? And we need to stay put even when everything we ever loved is out there? So is it worth it?

These cities were integral to the system of justice and mercy in Israel. So it’s good for us to understand exactly what they meant for the Jews. But clearly there’s more here than an ancient legal system. According to Hebrews 6, we’ve all fled to the city of refuge: Hebrews 6:17-18. Heb 12:22 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly And out there is the avenger, circling the city, waiting for one of us to venture away from safety where he then has the right to snatch us away. Did you know Satan’s name means accuser? He hates that we’re in here and we’re safe. He feels towards you just as strongly as if you’ve killed his child and gotten away with it. Out there is vengeance and hatred and danger. But in here are the people of God looking after us. And I know you’ve made great sacrifices to be in here. Sometimes you want so badly to go back to your old home and your old way of life where it made sense and you felt important and maybe you question some of those things in here: But that’s when you really need to consider what you’ve gained! Philippians 3:7-10.

Where do you wanna be? God wants you here, God’s people want you here, and God has a great inheritance waiting for you if you’ll stick it out. But if your heart is always pulling you outside, one day you might follow it and be gone. If that describes you, don’t lose hope. God knows His people struggle with staying put. One time in the Bible a man prayed to the Lord, “Help my unbelief!” James writes that the prayers of the righteous on behalf of brethren in need are effective, in chapter 5. If you haven’t yet come into the city, please hurry because the avenger is right behind you, you’ll be safe here. Romans 6:3.

Isaiah 66:12-13.

If I told you what I was when Laura and I met, you would ask like others have done in the past, “Why did she marry you?” I took her on our first date to the Del Mar Fair in San Diego, and I came straight from work to pick her up and somehow forget my tennis shoes. I tried to buy us tickets to hear Wynona Judd sing but my debit card didn’t have any money on it we found out. On the way home my car overheated so we had to stop on the freeway for a while to let it cool down. And then we went to Denny’s afterward and I got kicked out for not having shoes on. So I don’t know why either. I think we complement each other in some ways. She has qualities that I do not have, and I’ve always appreciated those things. She has a way with kids that I don’t have. And much of that likely happens to do with nature – she’s a women and I’m a man. There’s always going to be a bond she has with the kids that I’ll never have because she’s their mom. And I’d like to talk about that quality this morning, the character of mothers that is honored throughout the scriptures. When God created mothers, He thought it through. He wanted certain qualities in them that were not in the man. He put a part of Himself in the woman that reflects more strongly in women than it does in men. There’s a lot about women that God designed to reveal Himself, and we’ll see that in a moment in God’s Word.

There’s no question that manliness is godly. Scripture gives God a male pronoun. And it describes God in ways that reflect the way we tend to think of males. Exodus 15 "The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name. Isaiah 42:13 The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry He will prevail against His enemies. "The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Job 9:4 "Wise in heart and mighty in strength, Who has defied Him without harm? Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite. Job 12:16 "With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him. Psalm 93:1 The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Psalm 96:6 Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. The Bible describes God as a Father: 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

But the Bible also describes God using women and their strengths as well. Those great qualities that you see in men honor God, but those great qualities that you see in women are also there to honor and explain God’s character. The Bible uses mothers to explain how God feels towards us. For examples, take a look at Isaiah 66:13. Isaiah 66:13 “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” Why “as a mother comforts”? Well, I think we know. Because nothing is like a mother’s love. God invented mothers. He knows they’re the first ones to comfort. He knows that we men can’t comfort like a mother. The kids might prefer that I play soccer with them or maybe teach them how to drive, but no matter what I be their mom. Who do you think my 20 year old son calls when he’s having a rough time? He calls Laura way more than he does me. I just know that 15 years down the road, the kids are gonna be calling and talking to mom way more than me, and that’s OK. That’s how it should be. Take a look at another example of moms displaying the love of God, in Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49:15-16 Good News Bible “Can a woman forget her own baby, and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you. Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” I know of mom back in Alabama who had a son when she was very young. And she is so attached to him, but when he grew up he moved away. She nearly had a mental breakdown being away from him. We all wish we could help her move on, but God doesn’t move on either: Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” The first part of Isaiah describes God the man towards Israel, being the warrior and disciplining them and judging them. But then beginning in chapter 40, God the nurturer returns to tell His children that it’s done and it’s OK now: Isaiah 40:1-2 “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” And then there’s one more example I’d like to show you from David’s life. When David fought stress and anxiety as an adult, and he felt the world closing in on him, he reflected back on the days when he was a little scared child running to his mother’s leg and hugging it tight: Psalm 131:1-2 “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” God is reflected in men, but He saved a part of Himself to be reflected more strongly in mothers.

We mean can’t match the passion and deep commitment and emotional connection of a mother. Because God didn’t give us that gift. We’re men and God had other reflections of Himself to display through us. But we are all so blessed to have had mothers to show us how deep God’s love can go. My dad always made me feel safe, even though he was no bigger than my mom. But my mom made me feel like I could do anything. And how dare you tell her otherwise. When I started middle school, my mom was certain that I was some genius prodigy child. The school was not going to put me in the smart classes. Until my mom went down there and argued with them until they saw the error of their ways. My mom always was my best cheerleader and took my side even when I didn’t deserve it. Story about my lost tooth, bus driver. I hug and kiss my mom, and my dad gets the side hug.

Let’s conclude this morning’s lesson by looking at five Bible mothers and their love for their children. Rebekah is the first, and she was the mother of Jacob and Esau. Jacob seems to be her son, and Esau seems to be dad’s son. Rebekah was going to make sure Jacob had the absolute best, no matter what. She kinda reminds me of my mom, going down and arguing with the school to get me in those classes. Genesis 27:6-17. Did your mother never take your side against your dad, or go plead your case so that his decision went your way? I know Laura’s done it for the kids so that they could do certain activities or buy certain things.

Rizpah is another Bible mother who typifies a mother’s love and displays the kind of love God has for us. In 2 Samuel 21, her sons were killed because of the foolishness of King Saul and hung along with 5 of their half brothers on the mountain before the Lord. 2 Samuel 21:9-12. No mother should have to endure the death of her son I learned early on in counseling that this is the greatest grief a person can suffer. Have you ever been with a mother as she mourned? Do you think it was more than God suffered when He saw His son die? I think God wants us to understand from mothers that His love is that deep for His children.

Third, we sometimes forget about the grief endured by this next mother because we’re too busy condemning her for her anger towards God. In Job chapter 1 and 2, the Lord allowed the devil to take from Job and his wife 7 sons and 3 daughters. They were all killed when their house collapsed on top of them. All dead on the same day. How’s a mother going to respond to that kind of tragedy? Job holds onto her integrity but she is unable to, Job 2:9. Can we have some sympathy for her? We can’t excuse what she said, but certainly we can understand the depth of her pain as a mother having lost her children. It was a cruel act of Satan to do this to a mother.

The fourth example is one of my favorite mothers in the Bible. There was a Canaanite mother described in Matthew chapter 15 whose daughter was demon-possessed, and she’s determined to get Jesus to heal her. She’ll go as far as she needs to go to make this happen, and endure whatever is requires from Jesus and the apostles. Matthew 15:21-28. I think Jesus was trying to show us something from this mother. Look at her faith, look at her humility and patience. She didn’t care what names she was called, just heal my daughter. She knew He could, and she was compelled to get her daughter better.

Finally, consider Salome, the mother of James and John. She thought so much of her boys that she tried to get Jesus to agree to give them the seats in the Kingdom on the left and right hand of the Lord? Matthew 20:21.

And there are many other examples of the depth of love that God displays through mothers. We haven’t even mentioned Jesus’ mother Mary staying at the cross to be with her son while He was killed. I’ll never understand, from a mother’s perspective, what it’s like to look at somebody else and know that person once was a part of me and came from my body, and I’ll never understand what it’s like to have a relationship begin from great pain, and complete dependence and sacrifice. But I’m thankful to know the depth of a mother’s love. And I hope you can better understand God’s love through them, and why God jealously desires to have your spirit back, James 4:5. So will you give your devotion to Him or continue causing Him pain? He’ll endure the patience your entire life for your response.

Luke 17:11-17. For me to have a good day, it’s got to be problem-free. The clothes I want to wear are available in the closet. We’re not out of shampoo or face soap or hair products. I got my cup of coffee and we had creamer in the fridge. I got to the meeting on time and didn’t say anything too dumb during it. The counseling session went well. We were able to go for a walk or a hike later that day. Just a nice, clean day. But for me to have a bad day, it just takes one thing to go wrong. The car won’t start. It’s so frustrating! I gotta get out the jumper cables, when I just wanted to hop in the car and leave, now it’s gonna take a whole extra five minutes out of my life. Does that ever happen to you? One thing goes wrong and there goes my mood. In the story of the 10 lepers, just one great thing happens to 10 people, but it’s not enough for 9 of them to praise God. I can relate to that. I don’t know that it was a perfect day for them. These ten lepers were having a hard time until they met Jesus, and He cleansed them. Each one left the presence of Jesus to fulfill their obligation to appear before the priests and be declared clean. I imagine it was a rigorous process, checked from head to toe, cleansing ceremonies (see Levititus 14:2-9). Also, no one at the Temple is gonna be happy to see these guys coming and declaring they were healed by Jesus. The last time a man tried to persuade the Jewish leadership that he had been healed by Jesus, it didn’t go very well. He was excommunicated (see John 9). Maybe the priests made it difficult for them. I’m certain other difficulties came up in their lives both before and after the healing. My point is, that whatever problems this man faced, this one great thing that happened to him trumped them all and he praised God. Which is rare to find. In this parable, 9 of the 10 lepers failed to turned back to praise God after this one blessing. Do you think that’s close to what it is today? 90% of people fail to give God glory for a blessing in the midst of the problems of life. For some of us, we might have 10 great things going on in our day, but it just takes 1 thing to ruin it. But for others, 1 great thing makes them forget about the 10 hardships. Let’s see if we can list this morning some blessings we have in our lives that are powerful enough so that it should just take recognition of that one blessing to make us forget about the hard stuff and praise God. My hope is that no matter how bad a day we’re having, especially during this stretch of discouragement in the world right now, we can attach ourselves to just one of these sort of things and be filled with the appreciation that brought this one leper back to Jesus.

I trust Him. Psalm 28:7 I don’t mean, “It sure it wonderful that God is trustworthy.” That is important. But be thankful thatyou trust Him. You know there are lots of people who have no trust in the Lord? Their lives fall apart and they have no idea what to do, they have nobody they can confide in for help. If I didn’t trust in God, I would be carrying around a massive burden of my own failures. All of the things I’ve done that have ruined the lives of many people. I know I’ve failed. But I’m so blessed to be able to think, “God, I messed up, I can’t do anything about it right now. I need you to work and make the most of these failures.” And that takes a load off. If I didn’t trust God, I would feel a huge anxiety to achieve this image of a perfect life that is up in my head. But because I trust Him, I just kinda feel like I’m living His life for me and just going along for the ride. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I’m curious. Your day may be rotten, but remembering our trust in Him can bring us out of the mire.

2. The Lord is good. Psalm 100:4-5 What does it mean that the Lord is good? Well, He acts in a way that is beneficial and not hurtful to people. That’s important to remember at a time like this because we really don’t know what’s happening here or why, and we might want to question where God is during all of this pandemic and job loss and economy crashing and politics, and it looks like things are a mess worldwide. It’s comforting to know that He sees it too and He’s acting and helping. And what He’s doing for each one of us individually is good. I will sing the LORD's praise, for he has been good tome (Psalm 13:6). The plans that He has for our days and the directions of our lives is kind and masterful. He’s an artist with how He’s working us. He’s really good at what He does. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. (1 Chronicles 29:11).

3. God’s lovingkindness endures forever. Psalm 136:1-2 Lovingkindness is sometimes defined as “Covenant love.” Covenant love is what husbands and wives mean when they say, “For richer or poorer, better or worse.” Meaning, I’m gonna keep loving you through the good times and the bad. That’s what God’s covenant love means. As His people, He’s still going to love us during our down times. A lot of times act in a way that should disappoint God. I’m down on myself. I didn’t do good enough. I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. And I know it and kind of move away from Him. And of course at those times God can’t support us, right? But what does it mean that He still maintains His covenant love with us? He hasn’t turned against us. He’s still gonna help us and guide us and hope for us and discipline and teach us, and I’m so thankful that He doesn’t give up on me. So when you’re down on yourself for the 1,000 things you did badly, remember that God is still cheering for you and helping you, and take a moment to give thanks. And remember this psalm. Every verse remembers God’s lovingkindness. And nearly every verse recalls God’s mighty deeds: 2-6, 10-12. 23-24. He doesn’t forget His people.

Thanksgiving number 4: When we are down, God invites us to come to Him for strength. Nehemiah 8:10. The people in this story are upset because they just heard God’s Law read to them, and they knew they hadn’t been doing it. Which isn’t good. But Nehemiah would rather God’s Word be a reason to celebrate. I’m gonna miss having the kids around during Christmas the most some day because they’re so happy and excited. It’s their favorite time of year. And their joy is infectious. God’s that way. He’s one of those who is so full of joy that He can’t be brought low, and everyone who comes to Him gets infected by it. And I think Nehemiah is specifically referring to God’s Word in this verse as the joy of the Lord. Sometimes it’s called the gospel, right? The good news? Well it’s also called God’s joy. Are you down? God has enough joy to strengthen us all.

Number 5. I’m thankful that God gives so much to my loved ones. 1 Corinthians 1:4-5. He’s outworking everyone right now trying to help my sisters. There’s some people in our lives who used to worship God and have left, and God’s being so gracious to them right now, He doesn’t hate them, He’s not ignoring them, He’s doing everything to bring them back to us. And I’m so thankful for the grace that He’s given to you, my friends and family, and my responsibility, and I see things in you that I know wasn’t because of me, but because He loves you. On your bad day, consider how God is so gracious to your loved ones, and how He’s working hard to help the world and He is succeeding with many people.

Thanksgiving number 6: God’s grace is spreading, and somehow God is able to make it spread through broken, earthen vessels. 2 Corinthians 4:7, 11-12, 15. Why does God’s grace continue to spread across the world when it’s people like us that it’s been entrusted to? It’s able to somehow benefit from our weakness. God knew what He was doing entrusting this Word to you and me. And I don’t have to be any more than I am to be effective, 4:7. This is another of those blessings that’s great for our failure days. Lord, thank you that I don’t have to be great today. I’ll glorify you through my weakness today to show people what you can do with an earthen vessel like me.

Thanksgiving number 7: Give thanks for the generosity of God’s people. You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. (2 Corinthians 9:11) Maybe you’re down because of the greed that you see in the world around you. You see stinginess on TV, covetousness and other materialistic sins. But if you’re in a desperately foul mood about the condition of the human race, then I can tell you about some of the generosity that’s going on right now in God’s people that is producing thanksgiving in the people who know about it. I can also tell you about some times when people were generous to me who had no business doing so because they had enough problems of their own. I know how David felt when his friends risked their lives to get him a cup of water. The only thing to do is return their gift to the Lord.

Thanksgiving number 8: We can be anxious and still be thankful. Philippians 4:6. In counseling we shy away from the word “but” because “but” means it’s either one or the other. I was having a great day, but . . . No, use the word “and” as a reminder that life can be two things at once. We can be anxious about things or suffering but still be grateful and at peace. And maybe that’s the difference between the 10 lepers who weren’t thankful and the one who was. The one decides to count his blessings when maybe he doesn’t feel like it. Sometimes we’d rather focus on the thing that’s wrong and let it trump the things that are right. And we’ll wear the bad things as a badge of honor. Let’s be miserable today to show God how much we’re willing to suffer from the horrible situation He’s put us in so that we’ll really earn heaven some day. We can be anxious and still thankful.

Thanksgiving number 9: Colossians 3:15. I’m thankful that we were called to peace in the body of Christ. I played soccer back in Alabama with a guy who was pretty good, but no one wanted to play with him because every time he showed up the rest of us have a lousy time. Somehow we have to be the person who shows up and brings calm to a group. That’s what is being explained here: Colossians 3:12-15. I’m thankful because I need to be for the sake of my friends.

Thanksgiving number 10 Someone’s praying for you. Many times I have had to preach on a Sunday morning and wasn’t too confidence in myself or in the sermon. But I started teaching Bible class, and felt strengthened, and then I preached the sermon and somehow the conviction came out and I said what I thought I needed to say with strength, and it surprised me, and I was thankful. One time Laura had been away and it was like that, and then afterwards I saw a text from her that said, I prayed that you’ll preach well this morning. I know prayer work, but sometimes it can catch us off guard just how meaningful prayers on our behalf can be. Are you thankful that someone is praying particularly for you this morning?

When things are going bad, that might be the thought you need to get your mind back on track. It’s too easy to be one of the nine others who neglect thanksgiving to God. It’s too easy to let the one bad development dominate the 9 blessings we had before it. And there’s no reason to be that person. I imagine Jesus and the angels rejoiced at the one leper rather than sulked about the nine who rejected the blessing. If you are the sort of person who gets too easily derailed by bad news, then I offer up this lesson to you. Use one of these blessings to dominate your negativity, or find the one that is powerful enough to do it for you. And let’s be the sort of people who are full of gratitude right now for what the Lord is doing in our lives. People need to see it from us right now. You may not yet trust in the Lord. It’s got to be tough, to always have to depend on yourself to make your life happen the way it needs to happen. You can give your life to Him and He will care for it and be your deliverer on call whenever you need Him. Matthew 11:28-30.

Good morning. Our study today is going to be from John chapter two, so you can mark your Bibles there. This is the story of Jesus turning water to wine, after a push from His mother to do so.

But before we look at that story, turn back to Luke chapter 2 at the story of Jesus’ birth and try to think about why Mary was pushing Jesus to start doing miracles over in the second chapter of John. Read with me beginning in verse 16. Luke 2:16-19.

So what’s it like raising a Son whose birth was foretold by the coming of an angel? Whom you know is going to be a great King some day? And was given valuable gifts by rulers as a child? A prophecy from your cousin Elizabeth. The appearance of multitudes of angels and shepherds at His birth. The prophets Simeon and Anna, calling your Son the glory of Israel and the Redemption of Jerusalem as they meet Him in the temple. What’s motherhood like for Mary after that? Pretty exciting? Some great anticipation? Probably thanking God all the time that you were chosen to raise the Messiah? Except you have no idea when it’s gonna happen. When He’s 18? 20? 25? 30? Who knows. You just have to wait and see. But then what’s it like when nothing happens during the first 30 years of Jesus’ life? I guess Jesus took up carpentry when He became old enough. He wasn’t respected by His younger brothers, we find out later on. Wasn’t respected in Nazareth. I wonder if Mary ever thought maybe she wasn’t doing enough to make this happen. Maybe she’s supposed to seek out teachers or push Him, maybe she’s failing as a mother to raise the Son of God. Is there a time maybe when I’m supposed to say to Jesus , “Son, go become what You were born to become?” I think you see some of these questions in Mary in John chapter two when she pushes Him to turn the water to wine.

When Jesus turned 30, just before the events of John chapter two, Luke says Jesus is ready to begin His ministry, 3:23. And the signs that happened when Jesus was born and then disappeared for 30 years began all over again. John the Baptist rose up as a prophet in Israel. And He declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God, and the One who existed before me, John 1:29-30. He said He saw the Spirit of God descend on Jesus during baptism, a sign that Jesus was the Messiah. And finally Jesus begins gathering followers, His disciples.

So how does Mary who’s supposed to be mothering the Messiah react to the action finally picking up? It’s time to give my boy a little push out of the nest.

John 2:1-5. What do you think she’s doing? “Jesus, it’s time.” “No it’s not.” But she gets everything set up to put her Son on the map.

Later, Jesus’ brothers get in on the push in John 7, though without the same faith in Him as Mary had. Read with me John 7 beginning in verse 1. Do you see what they’re saying? “Go up to the feast, Jesus! Go do some miracles or something! Go prove it, IF You’re really the Messiah. Come on, mom said you’re special, You think You’re the Messiah, so why are You hiding?! Did any of you have encouraging brothers like that? “Prove it! You know you can’t do it! Loser!” What’s even more shocking to me is that these are Jesus’ younger brothers who are disrespecting him like that. It’s not like Joseph’s situation, where he was the youngest. Jesus’ whole family is pressuring Jesus to prove Himself. Mom’s got this idea for Him to do an elaborate miracle to get followers. Don’t forget, Jesus has never done a miracle before! At least that we read about in scripture. This will be the first, this will be what gets Him on people’s radar, good job mom for thinking of this! Jesus, they have no wine. So what? It’s not my time? Ignoring Him, Mary decides it is His time to shine. How do you think she imagined this going down? I believe she wanted something big to happen here. Jesus would gather the party around and fill their empty glasses miraculously. Or say some great saying like Elisha the prophet used to do – “Oh wine, I command you to abundantly pour! And then, like the brothers imagined over in John 7, Jesus would instantly be revealed to the world as the Messiah. Their idea was for Him to go to Jerusalem during a great feast and do the miracles in front of huge crowds of people. Their plots remind me of what the Devil suggested Jesus do during the temptations. He said, “Throw yourself off the temple?” It should would make a great show for Jesus to jump off and be caught by an angel just before He hit the ground at the Jewish temple. People would be impressed and clap and hoist Him on their shoulders and His job’s done! They’ll put Him on the throne right then and there! The way Jesus actually performs the miracle at Cana is not anything like what His brothers wanted to see. Where Jesus quietly obeyed His mother, turning water to wine, and then he slipped away leaving people to wonder what happened. Verse 11 says His disciples believed in Him, but that was it. And they already believed, so that wasn’t too helpful. Do you remember when Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke Him in Matthew 16:21-23 for not being the right kind of Messiah? I get the sense Jesus heard that a lot growing up.

Do we ever try to pressure the Lord to do His work the right way? I think we need to be careful whenever we have expectations of how the Lord ought to do His job. If I had superpowers, and I could stop some evil or make some good thing happen, I’d do it. Rescue children from evil people, stop murderers. Cure Covid19. God has that power, but He doesn’t always step in. Do I know better than God? I’m glad He has the power and not me because I know what kind of fool I am. I’d better be careful not to try and push God.

We may wonder why God hasn’t answered a very reasonable prayer request yet that we’ve made of Him, or something that we really really need that He hasn’t granted yet. I’ve prayed that God would take certain men off the air who are just completely blasphemous of Him. I don’t know what He’s waiting for, I have some really great ideas!

Churches often have other ideas about how to do the Lord’s work and grow impatient with his way. A gentlemen a while back wanted to help our church in Alabama reach more kids with the gospel and offered us some of his golf equipment to use to lure them in. That’s not how God taught us to do it. Churches want to use their resources right now to help everybody affected by this virus. We all do. But there’s a process we have to abide by to help unbelievers with our church money. Do you know that there was a natural disaster in Bible days that hit Judea, and churches did not use their resources to help anyone except other Christians? You can read about this in Acts 11:27-30 and in many other follow-up passages to that event, like Romans 15:26 and 1 Corinthians 16:1 and 2 Corinthians 8:4. Now I am sure that Christians helped on their own their non-Christian neighbors who were in need - the Bible says we need to do that. But the Bible pattern is doing it individually, not through the church. But how many people want to push a church to do more than what it is supposed to do? God, there’s so much that needs to be done around here, why are you putting limitations on how we can help people? Do we pressure the Lord I’d like you to notice one other thing the Lord told His brothers when they tried to push Him over in John 7.

John 7:6. Jesus, if you’re somebody, go prove it right now! I can’t yet because it’s not My time. But it’s always your time. I love what Jesus says to His brothers in the next couple of verses. John 7:7-8. “Why don’t you go down to the feast and tell them about Me? They’ll listen to you! What are you doing while waiting for God? You want Him to act. You want Him to fix this, fix that. You want Him to answer a really important prayer. What are you doing in the meantime? It’s always time for you to do something. Why is it that we pray for help from God and then just wait for Him to do it while we do nothing? “Dear Lord, please help our weak brother in Christ who I haven’t visited in 3 years.” “Give me opportunities to seek the lost from my couch. Help this brother with his problem that I don’t want to get involved in.”

Why didn’t Mary just tell everybody that her son was the Messiah? Why didn’t the brothers just go up to the feast and proclaim Jesus? Why don’t we redeem the time like we’re supposed to instead of trying to get God to do everything? Matthew 25 says a parable concerning us . . . Matthew 25:14-15, 24-25. What aren’t you doing because the real reason is you’re afraid to do it? Someone told me they don’t do one on one studies with people because they have a big mouth and are afraid they’re going to put their foot in it. No one should do studies then. We need big-mouthed people to do studies. They will say the hard things other people won’t say. Yes, you’re going to mess up. God set it up for us to learn the hard way. But leave the failures for him to fix and do your job.

I think if I were Mary I would have looked for Jesus to get going around His early 20’s. Maybe that’s why Joseph doesn’t seem to be around anymore. Dads are less patient with their children’s talents. You’re 30 years old and still not the Messiah yet?! When have you grown impatient with God’s work? And what are we doing while waiting for God to respond? He’s working right now, maybe not always at the speed we would like, but we need to trust Him that He’s up to good, Romans 8:28. Repent and be baptized now, and He will do His part.

Good morning. Today is Easter, and it may be the most memorable Easter of our entire lives. Not the best one for us probably, but one that will be talked about for a long time. But it’s not about us today anyway. Our country is participating in a holiday that really goes back about 3,500 years, started by the Jews when God commanded them to smear their doorposts with blood and hastily eat a meal in preparation for fleeing Egypt. And it continues to be an important day for so many because this is the time of year Jesus died. Christianity started because Jesus died on Passover, and then three days later witnesses began seeing Him alive again – the women who came to his tomb to anoint his body for burial, 500 people at once, two men who had been traveling, and then all of the apostles, who spent their lives attesting to the fact of his resurrection and performing miracles to prove it and building a religion around the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:17. This is why people become Christians. Because they believe this is true. But now is Christ risen from the dead. And now that He is raised from the dead, we are told that it’s time for us to raise in the likeness of His resurrection. Please read with me from Romans 6, beginning in verse 5.

Romans 6:1-11. I’ve got a dog that loves to get into our trash in the backyard. We put up barriers to stop him. We put up a gate. He found a way to squeeze around it. We put up a barrier where he was squeezing through, he started jumping through the railing to get back to the trash. Last week he got into some chicken bones, and dogs aren’t supposed to have that, and we’re pretty sure he had a rough few nights passing all of that. He was panting and acting uncomfortable. So that should stop him from getting back into the trash, right? He learned his lesson. Trash is not good for him, so stay away from it! Of course not. He sneaks out into the garage hoping to find a way back into the trash. He’s determined. Why does he do that? Why do we do that? After sin got us, and hurt us, and made us ashamed to be in our own skin, Jesus saw us from way over and heaven and said, “Alright, I’m coming to help!” And first He died in our place to release us from our guilt, and then raised up again to give us hope for a life beyond this trashed world, and then showed us how to feed on something better than sin. How many of us are more like Troy, our dog, though still, where we just really want back into sin? Like we’ll try to control ourselves but it’s super hard. It’s like that all the time in the Kingdom of God. What is Romans chapter 6 saying to us? 6:1-2 How can we keep going back to the thing that’s hurting us? That’s now how the people of God think. We hate sin. It hurts us. It embarrasses us. We’re ashamed. So we came to Jesus and left sin behind, vowing to end that old person and start over a new person. 6:4-5. And this resurrection is not something that’s going to happen to us someday. It’s something that we’ve already experienced as a Christian. 6:5-6, 10-11. So I think this part of Romans chapter 6 is the reality check. It’s reminding us that we hate sin, and to remember what it did to us and there’s no going back. That can be a battle. Women in domestic violence relationships are interesting to talk to because they know they should probably not let their husbands beat them up and tear them down day after day. And they need help and he needs help. But what happens if you help a lot of those women escape, maybe go to a shelter for a time? Or go to a friends? It’s really hard for them to stay gone. They’re pulled by every part of their mind and heart to go right back. Do they know it’s gonna be bad again? Yeah. But they’ve come to need that unhealthy relationship. Romans reminds us why we left, and to take a stand. Sin was awful to you, you’ve got a second chance! Go with it.

And then verse twelve helps us to understand how to stay away. Romans 6:12-18. This is such a proactive passage – don’t let, don’t present, present yourselves to God, use your body as a machine for righteousness. What do you think of freeloaders? What do you think of people who are content to just live off the government and have no desire to better themselves or find a way to be productive? Romans 6 targets the person who thinks that way about Christianity. What are you doing? Are you just here for the forgiveness? Then you’re in the wrong place. This is for the people who hate sin and are trying to better themselves. This is for the people who are desperate to become something more.

Do you feel trapped by sin? Suffocated by it? Enslaved? That’s a great indicator of a tender-hearted person. When sin is a cruel master that won’t let us go, constantly trying to push us back into old habits and making us a person we don’t like. But we fight it. I’m gonna get it right this time. I can do this. I can be disciplined. I’ve got so many plans in my life, so many things I wanna do, this is gonna be a great life, if I can just control it. Well, I messed that up, but everybody does. I’ll get it right eventually, maybe a little later after I get these goals accomplished. I’m getting too far from who I should be. I really need to get myself right, I just don’t have time, I can’t do it, what’s wrong with me? I hate sin, I hate this stupid life, but I can’t do it! And if you’ve gotten to that point, then you understand. That’s who Christians are, Romans 7:24. That’s the kind of person who understands Romans chapter 6.

When you get sick of sin, then you’re ready for salvation. And God will do the forgiving, but notice again that He leaves the dying and resurrecting up to us in these verses. Romans 6:4-5, 12-14. Do you think that you’ve been resurrected? Do you know what NOT resurrected sounds like? “I’m not perfect, just forgiven. I’m not any worse than everybody else. Yeah, I have my vices, but everybody sins. I’m alright where I am. Don’t be a welfare check Christian. Live a resurrected life.

Salvation is dying to sin, and then taking advantage of the opportunity to start over and with Christ’s help raising up in the likeness of His resurrection to walk a new life. How can we tell if we’re raised? Let’s look at three signs from chapter six. Number one:

Salvation is dying to sin, and then taking advantage of the opportunity to start over and with Christ’s help raising up in the likeness of His resurrection to walk a new life. How can we tell if we’re raised? Let’s look at three signs from chapter six. Number one: You get an obedient heart. Verse 17 says . . . Romans 6:17. There was a guy I saw on a show a while back named Jarvez Hall who weighed 548 pounds. The show was called Extreme Makeover. The show was going to try and make him healthy. What are the odds they were going to succeed with a 548 pound man? Well, t he trainer was pushing him hard. He made him drop and do a ton of pushups, made him take his shirt off for everybody to see, stand on the scale, made him eat only certain foods. Jarvis kept doing it, no matter how hard or embarrassing, and he kept saying, “OK, what’s next? Let’s go.” You knew from day 1 he was gonna make it. That’s the true heart of a person who’s sick of being a slave to sin. It’s not about welfare to them, I may be a sinner but I’m forgiven. They can’t stand being caught in sin and have to do better. What’s next? Lord, please don’t give up on me. I gotta become an expert on this book. I’m not missing church. You need some help? When do we meet. What can I do? Let’s go. Romans 6:17. That’s a resurrected soul.

Second, they are slaves to righteousness. Verse 18 says . . . Romans 6:18. Before, we’re a slave to ourselves. We’re trying to live our lives. We want our things. We’ll give God’s Law a try to stay out of trouble, but we don’t have a heart for it. We’ve got a mark to make. But we find that living for ourselves is just presenting our bodies as slaves to impurity and lawlessness. Why is it that living our way and trying to do our thing feels so dark and empty? It’s so frustrating. We’re just trying to be decent people but we can’t do it on our own path. Living in the likeness of Jesus’ resurrection means that we’re always looking to do His work, live His life. Every time an opportunity to do good for Him presents itself, we accept. Church lawn needs cutting? OK, I’ll do it. Somebody’s been missing church? I’ll check on them. Sure, I’ll teach this time. Sometimes we’d rather not, but we’re giving our body totally over to it, because our way didn’t work.

And then the third sign that we’ve been raised is that we’re producing good all of the time. Verse 20 says, Romans 6:20-22. And we get the result we’ve been hoping for, that drew us to being a Christian in the first place – sanctification. We’re holy people. We’re good. We’re living like Jesus. We hated being ashamed, being constantly reminded that we can’t live up to our own standards, that we’re failures. Raised up people are producing holy fruit.

So what are we gonna say? Should we just accept that sin’s always going to be in our lives? The thing we hate the most and has been so evil to us our entire lives and makes us ashamed? Should we be accepting, or should we let that attitude and way of thinking die, And raise up a new self in the likeness of His resurrection to walk in newness of life? Who do you think He’s going to give His grace to: People who are baptized believers but enjoy a few of the pleasures of this life . . . Or people who are desperate to destroy their old life, and are so thankful God helps them root unrighteousness out of their lives? Those who treat the cross as a welfare check or people desperate to change and grow? Whatever the Lord pleases, He does (Psalm 135:6). It will please Him to see people come to Him desperate to escape. If that’s you, Romans 6:3.

We’re beginning our study of the book of Revelation tonight, and we’re just going to work our way through from beginning to end. Tonight we’re looking at chapters 1-5. So let’s get started by reading the first 9 verses. And as we read, I’d like you to notice who’s writing, who he’s writing to, where he’s at and why he’s there.

And as we read, I’d like you to notice who’s writing, who he’s writing to, where he’s at and why he’s there. So there’s so much in these first few verses to set the stage for the rest of the book. First of all, who’s writing it? John the Apostle. Jesus gave Him a vision to share. With whom? With 7 churches in Asia, verse 4. Why them?

Well, John was pretty close to them at the time. He’s here on Patmos, verse 9 says because of the Testimony of Jesus. Which most believe means he got in trouble for preaching Jesus and was banished. Some traditions say that John lived in Ephesus, and that he died there, so maybe he’s writing back home. Either way, John’s in Patmos. There’s persecution among Christians. The apostles are dying out in the meantime, the age of miracles is coming to a close. The ungodly world doesn’t seem to be weakening at all. And in the midst of this period of tribulation, Jesus has a message to the churches.

Now if the Lord sent us a message today, in our circumstance in 2018, what would you like to hear from Him?

Maybe, “Here’s what I want you to do.” “Here’s what you’re doing well.” You’re still my children. I’m with you. Don’t get discouraged by what’s going on in the world, everything is going as planned. We are winning. Maybe something like that? Well let me show you that that is exactly the message of the book of Revelation. It’s not about predictions. It’s not about the end of the world, it’s not a Nostradamus-type message written in secret code about the future.

It’s the Lord reassuring His people as they lived their normal, daily lives, in an ungodly world, that “I’m still with you” and “Everything is still going as planned.” So let me show you that this is the message of the book: The Lord is still here with us. Let’s start at the beginning in chapter 1.

God the Father gave a message to Jesus. Soon take place/time is near. This is a message for them! Also, 22:6, 12, 20. The things in this book are about to happen. V. 3 “Signified,” John 4:48. They’re symbols, not literal events. Don’t be looking for the moon to turn to blood or locusts with women’s hair. Try to think what it means. V. 4 – I have a message of hope and love for you, from everybody in heaven. (Seven = complete. This is obviously the Holy Spirit.) 5, 7 Jesus is still ruling, and He is still coming. Don’t lose sight of that. John’s on Patmos on Sunday . . .

Verse 10. Now here’s where we need to start picturing what’s going on and trying to understand what we’re being told. 10-11. And now verse 12 begins John’s vision. And this is what He sees: So picture it: 12. And maybe the lampstands are spread out like this, and John sees someone walking between them. And now I want you to picture Jesus in your own mind:

13-16. So what do you think of that Jesus? Powerful, frightening, dangerous. Nothing like the Jesus that used to live on earth, right?

Now John’s terrified of this version of Jesus, 1:17. But Jesus’ message is, “Don’t be afraid. I haven’t changed at all. I’m still the Jesus that you knew.” 1:17-18. It gets me that He placed his right hand on John. Now back to those lampstands and stars for a moment. Jesus is holding 7 stars in His right hand, and He says in verse 20. 1:20. They’re the angels of the seven churches. I think that just means the Christians, because look at 2:1, 8, 12. The angels are who Jesus talks to, telling them good job or you need to do better. And the lampstands are the churches. So maybe the same thing as the angels, but one thing I want to point out is that Jesus was walking among the lampstands, do you remember? 1:13. And the lampstands are? So Jesus is with those churches, right? Walking among them. He hasn’t abandoned them. And He wants them to know that. He’s been there all along.

And the message of chapter 2 and 3 is just that: Jesus says, “I’ve been watching you.” 2:2-4, 9-10.

And for seven churches Jesus proves that He’s been with them. Appreciating what they’ve done well and expecting them to do better. He concludes by saying, 3:20-22. I’m here and I’m waiting for you.

February 16, 2020 Good afternoon, we’re continuing to study the book of Revelation, picking up in chapter 4 today, but let’s start tonight with a quick review of the first three chapters.

The Revelation was written by the apostle John while he was imprisoned on Patmos because of his faith in Jesus. And he wrote it to encourage these seven churches.

He told them he is writing about things that will soon take place. So if he wrote it in 100 AD, we would expect it to be a message about thing that happened back in their day. And He said in verse one that it is a book written in signs.

In chapter one, the message of Revelation is one of comfort: That Jesus walks among the churches, which are symbolized by seven golden lampstands.

And that message is followed by, “I know you and your works” in chapters 2 and 3. I know the good and bad, concluding the section by saying in the NIV:

Revelation 3:20-22.

So let’s pick up in chapter 4, where the real fun begins in the book. As John is looking at the 7 lampstands and Jesus standing there talking to Him, something catches his eye above him. 4:1. And he’s sucked up into heaven, and the scene is the throne room of God. So you have to picture this huge room with God the center of attention sitting over there on His throne, And there’s a huge sea separating His throne from you and Him, and there’s all kinds of amazing, wonderful creatures up there worshiping Him and carrying on and singing to Him. Take a look, Revelation 4.

Here’s jasper.

Here’s Sardius, thank you pinterest. So that’s what He looked like. 4:3b and following.

So who all is in the room? Let’s make sure we can identify everybody. So there’s God, that’s easy. And there’s the 24 elders. We’ll see them 10 more times in the book. They’re our representatives in heaven. They symbolize mankind. Notice they are on the opposite side of that sea that separates them from God, while the 7 spirits and the 4 living creatures are already over there. The elders are us, maybe Old and New Testament representatives. One of the key storylines is the elders getting closer to the throne throughout the book of Revelation. They start out here on the other side of the sea from God’s throne, then they cross the sea through tribulation, and finally the sea will be gone and they will stand with God. And there’s the 7 spirits of God. Who’s that? We already know from chapter 1, right? That’s just the Holy Spirit. And then there’s the 4 living creatures, who are the best of everything. Who’s that? Well, mankind is represented by the elders, and the angels here are represented by these four living creatures. Remember, Revelation is a symbolic book. They’re the Cherubim that the Old Testament talks about, who guard the Temple and the Ark, written about by Ezekiel in his vision. So who’s missing here? If God and the Spirit are there, and man and the angels, who’s missing from chapter 4? Now let’s look at chapter 5.

When all the worshiping dies down for a moment, John looks over and sees God with a book or a scroll in His hand. Now this is a really important book, and the rest of the book of Revelation is about the opening of this book and revealing its great plan. So it’s a very important book, a very powerful book that will require someone powerful to accomplish it. So let’s keep reading. Revelation 5. What’s going on? Everybody in heaven knows that’s a really important book requiring somebody very special and powerful to open it. And one is found who can enact it, and people are so excited about this.

So let’s talk about that scroll for a minute. It’s closed with seven seals, kinda like this. This is my favorite picture of the scroll that I could find, only because you can tell that every time you remove one of those wax seals, more of the scroll opens. Do you see that? The scroll has writing on it. Each time part of the scroll is opened, the words on the scroll come to pass, the plan God has decreed is enacted. The first four seals, when they’re opened, reveal just a couple of sentences each, as we’ll see. The fifth seal has a little more written on it, And then the 6th seal is much more significant. It reveals quite a story, stars falling, the sky shaking, the people of God being protected.

But now here’s the 7th seal. Do you see the difference? The 7th seal is an opus. It’s a novel. When it’s opened, seven angels line up with seven trumpets, and just like the seals, they take turns blowing their trumpets and causing a new part of the plan to be put into action. And, guess what, the first four trumpets each play a small role in the plan, and then when the fifth trumpet blows something bigger happens, and then when the 6th trumpet blows, watch out! But that final trumpet, that 7th trumpet sounds, it plays an entire opus. It causes all kinds of action. As a matter of fact, when that 7th trumpet blows, seven more angels appear each holding a bowl full of wrath.

Each bowl is poured out one at a time, but when that last bowl is poured out, it’s finished, as 16:17 says. So we’re about to see the story of the book of Revelation, and it will help to keep this visual in mind: 7 seals removed one at a time from the scroll. The seventh seal contains the angels with the 7 trumpets. The seventh trumpet contains the 7 bowls of wrath.

So now turn to chapter six, and let’s see what happens as the Lamb of God begins to open the scroll one section at a time. Let’s read the opening of the first five seals on this scroll and then go back and talk about what’s going on. Revelation 6:1-9. Let’s figure this out. I think we can do it without getting too weird.

The first thing that happens when the first seal is removed is that a rider on a white horse appears with a crow on His head and a bow, and He is ready to conquer. Who is He, and who’s He going to conquer? OK, so what’s the scripture trying to tell us by giving him a white horse? He’s good! He’s pure! And He’s got a crown on. Who do you think this could be? White horse, crown, conqueror? It’s Jesus! As a matter of fact, in Revelation 19:11, there’s Jesus riding on a white horse. Now what do you think Jesus would be out conquering? He’s not going out killing people, right? Jesus is the conqueror of hearts, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. This is a depiction of the gospel being sent out into the world, that’s part 1 of the plan of God contained in this scroll.

So what happens next after the gospel is brought to the world? A red horse is sent out. People start killing each other. What does God mean that a great sword and killing comes after the release of the gospel into the world? Well, the gospel incites violence. It makes some people really angry. It makes the devil angry. Jesus had earlier said that Matthew 10:21. So who’s getting killed? It’s not Christians who are doing the killing, but they’re getting killed, as we’ll see in a few more verses.

And then the black horse appears when the third seal is broken. And he causes economic hardship. Which I think still refers to the harm done to Christians when they accepted the gospel. Some lost their jobs. Homer Hailey relates that Christians were kicked out of the labor unions of their day and couldn’t find work. But the idea is that Christians are getting hurt.

And then the fourth seal is removed, and it’s not good. It’s a pale horse ridden by death. This rider kills in all sorts of ways – the sword, disease, famine and wild beasts. So whether by wars, or maybe being thrown to lions, or starved, or just by being put to death, people are suffering in the aftermath of the gospel being sent out. Now who’s suffering? Well, let’s look at the fifth seal opened.

Verse 9 makes it pretty clear in my mind that the gospel went out and God’s people ended up getting hurt. That’s the story of the horseman. Revelation 6:9. And what does God tell them? Hang on a second, right? This is a pivotal point in the story, because what happens next in the rest of the book is that God is going after the enemies of His people. God heard their cries, and He’s upset and He’s going to respond. You are in trouble for what you did to my people. This is the rest of the story of the scroll. God is going to take down His enemies one at a time, starting with the lesser enemies and working His way up to the devil himself.

And we’ll stop here today. So what is the book of Revelation about so far? Well it’s about some churches who needed to hear that God will still be with them during some discouraging times. And they had been praying. And it’s about a book that God wrote in response to their prayer, which contained a plan so powerful that only one person could be found worthy to release it, the Lamb of God. And so beginning next week we’ll start looking at the contents of the scroll as it’s unfolded one seal at a time, and that’s what the rest of the book of Revelation is about. So if you’re among the people of God who is desperate to know that the Lord takes thought of you, I hope you will find comfort in this book. Don’t give up. Hebrews 10:32-39. If you’re on the verge of quitting, come forward so we can be a comfort for you, or if you’re ready to join the people of God in the battle against a wicked world, Acts 22:16.

February 23, 2020. Good afternoon, we are continuing our study of the book of Revelation today, and we’re in chapter six.

And what we’ve seen so far is that Jesus appeared to the apostle John in a vision, telling him to let the churches know that He walks among them.

We’re going to be taking the lesson from the book of Romans this morning, in line with our Sunday morning Bible class.

I believe it was Ann who claimed this as one of her favorite verses the other day: Luke 17:10. Once it sinks in how much we’ve contributed to the mess of this world, and how generous God still has been to us, it should be natural for us to simply have an attitude of wanting to be an unworthy servant of God.

And I’d like to spend some time focusing on those things this morning, from a passage in Romans chapter 12. Read with me beginning in verse 1.

Be a living sacrifice. There’s a movie that came out a few years back about robots taking over the world called “The Matrix.” Mankind has been put to sleep by the enemy but they don’t know it. They’re all dreaming that the world’s fine, that life is pleasant and normal and nothing’s wrong. This is the way the enemy keeps them controlled. The real world that they’re not seeing is dark and dying. In the course of the movie everyone in some way or another is offered a choice: They can wake up from their dream world and face the harsh reality of a dying world, or they can continue to live in their dream world as though everything’s just fine. Which would you choose? The red pill or the blue pill? How many of us are prepared to face the truth about this world? That it’s fallen because of us. We destroyed it through OUR sin and forsaken its Creator and made it about us? And that our only shot at redemption is to put our trust completely in the Savior who came into the world 2,000 years ago? This is the message of the book of Romans. It’s a red pill book.

I think most of us tend to look at Romans like this. It’s so gorgeous and happy. Thank God for His grace because we evil sinners need it! And of course it is full of grace and beauty:

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe . . .

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . . .

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It’s so beautiful, like being on the lake during sunset, or walking along the beach, or through the trees in Fall.

And of course it is a beautiful and hopeful book. My friend Dave Barnes talks about how emotional people get when he shows them the true meaning of grace. He says the Christians who finally understand it from the book of Romans will often tear up because they hadn’t fully understood it before. But it’s more than that. It’s a wake-up call.

It’s saying that we have sinned, that . . . “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17 And the path of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” It’s saying that we’ve trusted too long in ourselves, and that it’s time to put our trust in the Lord.

And God rescues those who will trust in Him, and them alone.

And that God has this masterful plan to continue working to save mankind. The first 11 chapters of Romans should make us scared about what we’ve done and about what almost happened to us but also happy and hopeful because of what God did for us.

So by the time we get to Romans chapter 12, and we’ve thought through all of this, That we destroyed God’s perfect creation, and cost Him His Son, and have trusted in ourselves, but that He’s still willing to rescue us if we’ll put our trust in Him, The result is supposed to be that our breath should be taken away. We should be faint, and be pierced to the heart, and feel small and humbled and ready to do whatever we need to do to make this right. Acts 2:37. A couple of us from the Springville congregation helped a young lady move not too long ago. I love helping people move because so many people have helped us move over the years. I still remember Stan Tolliver helping us move our piano. Somehow we got it onto his riding lawnmower out of the front door of the house, and he drove it over to the truck. And then I remember when we tried to get it onto the truck that it fell on somebody’s fingers, I think it was Jerry’s? So I didn’t mind helping her. I owe it to everyone who needs to move. So we helped her, and apparently by the way she acted she thought that meant she was so special, like she was entitled to it, or like everybody loves her so much that we’d do anything for her. And then she just expected us to come back over the next weekend and fix up her yard and start being at her beckon call. No, that’s not what she did. She was humbled. And extremely appreciative, almost embarrassed that people would help her out. Sometimes people loving us makes us feel small. And if that’s how you feel reading Romans 1-11, then you’re where you’re supposed to be going into the beginning of chapter 12. So read it with me one more time, and then we’ll go through this section phrase by phrase.

Romans 12:1-2.

So first of all, verse one begins “Therefore.” Usually with “therefores” in the Bible you go back to the previous chapter and connect it to the immediate context, but I believe this “therefore” is different. This “therefore” is about everything he’s been saying from chapters 1-11. Now that your breath has been taken away and you’re faint with the shock of the mercies of God, here’s what to do about it.

Therefore, I urge you. And this is strange to me. This is hard to understand. After eleven chapters of the gospel of grace and faith laid out, along with a peek into God’s amazing plan of salvation, the apostle gets to the part of the book where we have to do something about it and he says, “Please? I ask you, I beg you, I urge you?” The word means to plead, beg, or encourage. “Please?” (Hands begging).

I urge you to present your bodies a living sacrifice. Do you feel like doing something about the mercies of God? This is what to do – you sacrifice. And to know how to do that, you can read chapters 12-15. It’s all about how to do that: Be hospitable. Bless those who persecute you. Be subject to the government. No more carousing, no more sexual immorality, don’t judge your brother. Some people think becoming a Christian is going to make life a whole lot easier. That’s not really true. It’s sacrifice. We do have a lot more help as Christians against sin and hardship, but it’s still sacrifice. In the Matrix, those of you who have seen that movie know it wasn’t easier for the people who woke up. Reality is harsh, and it takes courage to face it, what’s really happened to the world, what we did, what He had to do for us. What’s offered by God is truth. He’ll face it with you, but it’s harsh. What’s promised is that it’s going to be a sacrifice. Sacrifice means there’s things we’re going to have to do that we won’t want to do. I’m going to San Diego this week for a preacher’s conference that I attend each year. I’ll be with my preacher friends, will have to study with them for hours a day. I’ll probably have to go to the beach and see my family and eat at In N out Burger. It’s going to be a sacrifice. Is that sacrifice? Of course not. I wanted to do that. Christianity is about doing things you don’t want to do because you trust God. What should you do when you don’t feel like praying? Pray. What if you don’t feel like going to church? Go to church. What if you don’t feel like having people into your home, or teaching someone, or reading the Bible? I beg you, by the mercies of God, sacrifice!

Do what is your duty to do.

“. . . present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” One thing that might make sacrifice easier is to always think about it in the context of relationships. If you’re just sacrificing for yourself – “OK, I’m going to torture myself by doing all of these things I don’t want to do so I can get to heaven” – That’s not going to work. Sacrifice is not simply about doing what we don’t want to do. It’s about giving to God.

There was a marine who stopped a terrorist attack on a train in France a while back. His name was Spencer Stone, the same name as one of our elders. He got sliced up a little bit, and hurt his harm. Do you think he regrets it? I doubt it. How’d he get himself to put his body in harm’s way? Probably because he wasn’t thinking about himself, he was thinking about that train, and about doing the right thing. Sacrifice is easier when it’s about relationship.

Think of the sacrifices as offerings of worship to God, think of it in terms of relationship to Him. Throughout the Bible, sacrifices and offerings are mentioned together 99 times. Sacrifice is saying, “I want to offer God something. What can I give Him?”

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .” The way we get ourselves to do the good things we don’t want to do, according to Romans 12, is by “renewing our minds.” What if you bought this car. You wanted to go this way, but when you step on the gas the car pulls in two directions? How could you get it to go forward? One thing you could do is make one engine stronger than the other so that it pulled the way you wanted it to go. I think that’s what this verse is saying. Our bodies will always be the same and have all those desires. It doesn’t get renewed, only controlled. We have to renew our minds, getting our minds strong enough to reign in the flesh.

Verse three says, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” And I believe this is the big point. This is what we should have gotten out of chapters 1-11. Not, “Look what God did for us, we must be so special,” But, “I can’t believe what I’ve done, I was so selfish and blew it and I’m embarrassed, but I’m so thankful that God was able to fix my mess. What can I do to make this right?” And this is the feel of the next five chapters. Romans 12:3 is what made me think of The Matrix. Every message of the book of Romans has been designed to bring us down to earth, so to speak: God’s the hero who comes in to fixes everything. We’re the ones who messed it up. All of us are unrighteous and sinners. And that the world doesn’t revolve around me. I know God loves me because He sacrificed for me, but I need to have a realistic, sober view about myself. The passage goes on to encourage us to see ourselves as one small piece of a great puzzle. I’ve been given a measure of faith but not the whole thing. I think it’s a tough lesson for preachers that we’re just playing a small role in God’s plans just like everyone else. Sometimes we start thinking we’re essential to God’s work, and without us, if I leave this church everything’s going to fall apart. But I now realize I’m just not that essential. I have a role to play and that’s what I’m going to do, and may God use me as he sees fit. But the nice thing is that when we humble ourselves like we should, we also don’t feel the pressure of being essential anymore. I’m just not powerful enough to send people to heaven or hell. I’m just an unworthy servant trying to serve the Lord as best as I can. We have a small role just like everyone else: Romans 12:4-8. And you can do something I can’t do because God gave you a different portion of the faith than he gave me, and you can do your little part, and we all get to play a role in the body and uniquely serve.

Romans 12:1-2. Therefore, since God was able to clean up your mess and give you a new hope, I urge you, please, I beg you, By the mercies of God, by all the beautiful blessings that you have been reading about so far, Present your bodies a living sacrifice – be unselfish and do His will as an act of thanksgiving and worship to Him. Romans 12:2 (Read)

Romans 12:3. Be realistic about who you are, loved by God, but the world does not revolve around you. You’re an important piece, but a small piece of a great plan.

What will be your response to the mercies of God? Will you please enter into the work of the Lord because of what God has done for you? He’s not asking much, just your small part. Go out and help Him find the people who are looking for those mercies.

Outline of the Book: Romans 1:1-1:16 Paul’s Introduction Romans 1:16 = Thesis Statement Romans 2:17-3:18 All have sinned and are guilty. Romans 3:19-31 The way back to God is through faith, not works. Romans 4 Faith has always been the way back to God, as illustrated by Abraham’s salvation.

Outline of the Book: Romans 5 This new salvation is made possible through Jesus’ blood, which is abundant enough to counteract all of history’s sin. Romans 6-8 Salvation frees us from sin to live holy lives. Romans 9-11 God has devised a great plan to save both the Jews and Gentiles from sin.

Outline of the Book: Romans 12-15:13 What a Christian life looks like. Romans 15:14-16:27 Concluding remarks.

Colossians 3:15.

How’s everybody doing this morning? Did you have a good day yesterday? It warmed up above freezing. For NFL fans, the Patriots lost. Laura and I had a quiet house again, no kids. Are you carrying a bad day into today? Maybe some appliance broke. Or yesterday wasn’t a good family day. You got some bad news. Maybe you had a tough day fighting sin and the devil yesterday, and you’re still feeling that today. How much of our past carries with us into our present? What if there was a way to press a reset button on life every day, where the slate was wiped completely clean and we got a fresh start? Every day all debt has been forgiven. All failures forgotten and reset. We never start in the negative. That’s how the Bible describes being a Christian.

Ephesians 2:1-5.

Romans 8:1. And what is “now”? Is now back then, when we were baptized, or is it now right now? There’s no condemnation. Every moment is a fresh start. So you failed yesterday, you failed this morning. God listened to your prayer, and the blood of Jesus cleanses you.

I think that we Christians are not very goodatt living in the present. I believe many Christians hold onto the guilt of their past despite of the promises of God. So this morning I’d like to address this tendency and share some thoughts from scripture that maybe can help improve our trust in the Lord’s grace towards us.

But first let me clarify that I’m not talking about sins we’ve committed that we haven’t sought forgiveness for. That’s a different kind of guilt. When we talk about guilt, usually we’re talking about two kinds, two different things. The first kind is actual guilt. As in, you did something wrong, and you have some consequences coming your way for it. At DHS, people get their kids taken away, and then they’re given a program they have to follow to get them back. Things like don’t do drugs. Don’t get arrested. Have a job. And then guess what happens when you don’t follow the program? You get in trouble. You’re guilty. If you have sinned before God, and you haven’t yet done what God has asked you to do, through belief and repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of your sins, then you still hold onto those sins.

2 Thessalonians 1:8-10. If you have sinned and haven’t taken care of it, you are guilty. It doesn’t matter if you feel innocent or safe. These will be the consequences. And if you’re a Christian and you’re in sin, and you’re not appealing to God for your sin, then you are guilty 1 Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? That’s BEING guilty.

But then there’s FEELING guilty, which is not the same thing. People can feel guilty when they’re innocent. Paul believed he was the greatest sinner, 1 Timothy 1:15. He felt he was the least of all the apostles. We don’t think that though, do we? He wasn’t. We aspire to be like Paul. We’re the greatest sinners. Christians feel guilty about things they were forgiven for a long time ago. And they can even feel guilty for things that weren’t even sinful in the first place. I studied with a lady a while ago who was dying with cancer. I couldn’t get her to change. I could have done more to help her. I could have done more. Maybe it was my fault. I could have been a better example.

The FEELING that we call guilt is not dependable. Sometimes it tells us we’re guilty when we’re not, and sometimes it doesn’t tell us we’re guilty when we ought to be feeling guilty. 1 Corinthians 4:3-5.

I did a Bible study on feelings a while ago and determined that feelings are just gauges God has given to us. For example, love is a great gauge. Do we love the right things? If we love evil things, that’s a sign that something’s off in us and we need to pray and study and work on it. It’s a gauge that helps us know what needs some work. If you don’t love your husband or wife or kids or parents, something’s off and needs to be repaired.

Psalm 52:3. And if we’re feeling guilty about past things that were forgiven a long time ago, something’s off and needs attention. If we’re feeling guilty for some harm we caused years ago that we have been forgiven for, something’s wrong. If we’re feeling guilty for hypothetical things, or things we think we might do in the future, or things someone else did, then that is a gauge telling us there’s a problem. So how do we fix it? How do we get past feeling guilt when we’re no longer guilty? Or when we never were guilty to begin with? Let me share five lessons from five Bible people who struggled with guilt and shame.

Number One: If we’re carrying guilt, let’s make sure that we truly are forgiven first. Like David did. There were times when David felt really guilty because he really was guilty. Psalm 32:3-4. The feeling of guilt wore heavily on him. It drained his energy. And that was a good thing because he was in serious trouble with the Lord. He would not address his sin. Maybe he was too prideful or he didn’t want to quit it. And if that’s your condition then I hope that God increases the weight of that feeling on you until you come to Him. That’s when David finally was able to remove it. Psalm 32:5, 10-11. If you feel guilty because you are guilty, that’s simple to correct – do what’s right and seek the Lord.

Number 2. Elijah felt guilty because he expected impossible things from himself. He thought he could go into the wicked nation of Israel, demand their allegiance to the Lord, and show them how powerful God was, and everybody would go, “Oops, we were so foolish to not follow God! We are so sorry and from now on we’ll live right!” So he stood up to King Ahab, and his wicked Queen Jezebel. He had his showdown with the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah on the mountain and defeated them, and he had the people chanting, “The Lord, He is God!” But it was all just words. Elijah said . . . 1 Kings 19:4. Why? Because he couldn’t persuade an entire nation of wicked people to turn to God? Give me a break. Why did he even put that burden on himself? We can be so unrealistic with our failures sometimes. Do we really think you’re that powerful? That the souls of everyone around us are in our hands? And if you’d just be perfect they’d all be saved? Do you really think that you’re so influential that you have the power to send someone to heaven or hell? I’ve said this before, but it’s so important – they will be judged for what they’ve done, and your name’s not gonna come up in their judgement. I’m not saying we won’t be judged for our words or actions towards others. We will. Matthew 12:36. But we need to be more realistic about who we are and what God expects of us. Job 22:2 2 "Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise man benefit him? NIV Job 35:6-7 6 If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? NIV Isa 64:6 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. NIV Luke 17:10 10 "So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'" NASU Let’s be realistic about who we are. We are God’s beloved children, giving Him our drawings and our sticks and pebbles. And we just pray that He can do great things through our small offerings.

Number 3. Don’t try to get rid of all those feelings of guilt. Instead, put them to a positive use, like Peter did in Luke 5:1-8. Luke 5:1-8. He used them to fuel his fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1:7. Jesus’ eyes are like blazing fire. Can you see that? His hair is completely white. His face shines like the sun. His feet look like glowing metal. How would you react to that? He judges you. He watches you, and He’ll decide your fate someday. Put those feelings of guilt to good use. Instead of just being discouraged all the time, use it as a reminder of our place in the presence of the Lord. Which ties into the next point.

Number 4, Instead of completely getting rid of the feelings of guilt, Use it to fuel your passion for the Lord, like Paul did. He could never completely shake what he did before coming to God. 1 Timothy 1:12, 13, 15. Paul brought into his Christian life an insecurity that was fed by the person he used to be. He knew he didn’t deserve being a Christian, And that’s exactly why he was such an ambitious Christian. 1 Corinthians 15:9-10. I had to work hard because I knew how unworthy I was. I wrote a song a long time ago about punting. It was a big hit, as you can imagine. But I used to practice a lot by myself, and try really hard because I was so stressed out and insecure. That anxiety is what made me work. Maybe some brethren don’t have enough anxiety. I’m reminded of a parable that Jesus once told in Luke 7:41-42. You know, you still might not make it. You still might have some of that old person inside of you. What are you going to do about it? Use it to live for today!

Finally, No matter how you feel, do what is right. Because you can’t always trust your feelings. And we can’t always control them or fix them right away. Judas felt really guilty after betraying Jesus, as you can imagine. And for a brief moment it seemed he might even do the right thing as a result of that guilt: Matthew 27:3-4. OK, good, Judas, you’re on the right track. Except the feelings wouldn’t go away. And they were so pressing that he became despondent. And finally it was so powerful that he sought relief from them in an ungodly way. Matthew 27:5. You’re gonna be tempted to do the wrong thing as a result of those guilty feelings. You might be tempted to deny God’s forgiveness that He has promised you. It would be a mistake to call God a liar. You might be tempted to devalue yourself, in spite of what God has said about you, 1 Peter 2:5. You might be tempted to leave the work of God for others because of your own sense of personal failure. That would also be a mistake. Instead we need to do the work as unworthy slaves, Luke 17:3ff. You might be tempted to worry, in spite of Jesus’ warnings not to do so, Matthew 6. However guilty feelings might tempt you, don’t concede an inch to them. We have to do what is right at all times in spite of how we feel. Just stay the course anyway.

Romans 8:1. Do you believe these words this morning? When God promises His grace, do you believe Him? Or are you holding onto something from the past that He has let go? Let’s make certain that we have repented and sought forgiveness of those things, And then make sure that any guilty feelings are not interfering in our work for the Lord.